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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



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HOUDAN CHICKS WITH BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCK MOTHER 
(Photograph by C. E. Petersen) 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

ELEMENTARY LESSONS 
IN AVICULTURE 



BY 

JOHN H. ROBINSON 



GINN AND COMPANY 

BOSTON • NEW YORK • CHICAGO • LONDON 






COPYRIGHT, I913, BY 
JOHN H. ROBINSON 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
413.9 



3Ef)e gtftengum -gregg 

GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 



GCI.A35483-2 



PREFACE 

Ten years ago aviculture had hardly been thought of as a 
school subject. To-day it is taught in thousands of schools, and 
in some states instruction in poultry culture is required by law. 
This rapid change in sentiment and situation has resulted from 
a combination of causes. When agricultural colleges established 
poultry departments, it was found that a large part of those 
applying for admission to them had neither the practical knowl- 
edge of poultry nor the general education that they needed to do 
work of college grade. About this time also the interest in nature 
study began to take a more practical turn, and attention was 
directed to the superiority of domesticated to wild animals and 
plants as material for school studies of the phenomena of physi- 
cal life. Added to these special causes was a general cause more 
potent than either : great numbers of people had reached the stage 
of experience in' various lines of aviculture where they realized 
keenly that a little sound instruction in the subject in youth would 
have been of great value to them later in life, saving them from 
costly mistakes. To these people it seemed both natural and nec- 
essary that the schools should teach poultry and pigeon culture. 

Developing as the result of such a combination of causes, the 
demand for an elementary textbook on poultry came with equal 
force from country schools, where poultry might be kept on the 
school grounds as well as by every pupil at home, from city 
schools, in which all instruction must be by book, and from all 
types of schools and conditions of life between. Had there been 
only the extreme classes of schools to consider, the natural way 
to supply the demand would be with a special book for each 
distinct type of school. The idea of one book for all schools, 



vi OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

from which each might use what seemed to suit its requirements, 
was dismissed as impractical while so large a proportion of 
teachers were but slightly acquainted with the subject. It is 
believed that the plan of making an elementary reading course 
for general use, and a secondary book of a more technical char- 
acter for use where practice courses are given, is the best solution 
of the problem under existing conditions. 

In this first book the object is to tell in plain language the 
things that every one ought to know about poultry, pigeons, and 
cage birds ; to teach fundamental facts in such a way that they 
will be fixed in the mind ; to excite interest in the subject where 
none existed; and to direct enthusiasm along right lines. While 
the demand has been almost wholly for a poultry book, pigeons 
and cage birds are included, because they are of more interest 
than some kinds of poultry and better adapted than any other 
kind to the conditions of city life. 

In regard to the time that should be given to this course, 
one period a week for forty weeks is better than a period a day 
for forty days, because the average person, young or old, retains 
a great deal more of what is read or heard about a diversified 
subject if the ground is covered by easy stages with compara- 
tively long intervals between. References for collateral readings 
and suggestions for original investigations are omitted, because, 
in the author's opinion, what work of this kind it is desirable 
for a high-school pupil to do should be done by those taking 
practice work in the advanced course. 

JOHN H. ROBINSON 

Reading, Massachusetts 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Birds and their Relations to Man . .. . . . i 

Definition of a bird ; Place of birds in the animal kingdom ; 
Flight of birds ; Voices of birds ; Social relations of birds — 
Place of birds in domestication — Uses of birds in domestica- 
tion — Place of wild birds in civilization — Classes of domestic 
birds 

II. Characters and Habits of Birds related to Use 8 

Feathers — Structure of feathers — Arrangement of the feath- 
ers — Decorative feather forms — Color in feathers — Growth 
and molting of feathers — Flight — Mechanism of the wing — 
Scratching — Swimming — Foods and mode of digestion — 
Peculiarities of birds' eggs — Development of the egg — Rate 
and amount of egg production — Incubation — Development 
of the embryo in a bird's egg 

III. Species and their Divisions in Domestic Birds 24 

Definition of species — Origin of species — Natural varieties 

— Varieties in domestication — Classification of domestic va- 
rieties of birds — Systematic mixtures of breeds and varieties 

— Pure-bred, thoroughbred, and standard-bred 

IV. Fowls 31 

Description — Origin of the fowl — Appearance of the original 
wild species — Distribution of fowls in ancient times — De- 
velopment of principal races of fowls — How fowls were kept 
in old times — Modern conditions and methods — Native fowls 
in America — Old European races of fowls — Italian fowls — 
English races of fowls — German and Dutch races — French 
races — Spanish races — Asiatic races of fowls — Chinese races 

— Japanese races — The "hen-fever" period — How the 
American breeds arose — The modern Barred Plymouth Rock 

vii 



viii OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



— Other varieties of the Plymouth Rock — The Wyandottes 

— The Rhode Island Red — The American idea in England ; 
the Orpington — Present distribution of improved races — 
Deformed and dwarf races — Silky fowls — Frizzled fowls — 
Rumpless fowls — Bantams — Origin of Bantams — Varieties 
of bantams 

V. Management of Fowls . . 72 

Small flocks on town lots: Numbers in flocks — Houses and 
yards — Feeding — Growing chickens. Small flocks on ordinary 
farms : Numbers in flocks — Single houses for farm flocks — 
Feeding — Reproducing the flock — The hatching season — 
Broody hens — Setting the hens — Care of sitting hens — At- 
tention at hatching time — Coops for broods — Feeding young 
chickens — Management of growing chicks. Large stocks on 
general farms : The colony system — Numbers of hens kept — 
Feeding, care, and results — How the chickens are grown — 
Adaptability of the colony system. Intensive poultry farms : 
Reasons for concentration — Concentration not profitable — 
Common type of intensive poultry farm. Broiler growing : 
The "broiler craze" — Present condition of broiler growing. 
Roaster growing: Description of a good roaster — General 
and special supplies — Large roaster plants. Intensive egg 
farming — Poultry fanciers' farms 

VI. Ducks . .* 124 

Description; Origin — The common duck — Improved races 

— Ornamental ducks — Place of ducks in domestication 

VII. Management of Ducks . . . 137 

Small flocks on town lots: Numbers — Houses and yards — 
Feeding — Laying habits. Growing ducklings. Small flocks 
on farms : General conditions — Feeding. Market duck farms : 
History — Description — Duck fanciers' methods 

VIII. Geese 157 

Description — Origin — Common geese — Improved races — 
Ornamental varieties — The Canada Goose, or American Wild 
Goose — Place of geese in domestication 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IX. Management of Geese . 168 

Small farm flocks : Size of flock — Houses and yards — Feed- 
ing — Laying season and habits — Hatching and rearing gos- 
lings — Large flocks of geese on farms — Goose-fattening 
farms — Growing thoroughbred geese for exhibition — Grow- 
ing a few geese on a town lot — Growing wild geese in captivity 

X. Turkeys 179 

Description — Origin — Common turkeys — Improved varie- 
ties — Bronze Turkeys — Influence of the Bronze Turkey on 
other varieties — Other varieties of the turkey — Place of the 
turkey in domestication 

XI. Management of Turkeys 190 

Size of flocks — Shelters and yards — Feeding — Breeding 
season and laying habits — Hatching and rearing 

XII. Guineas 201 

Description — Origin — Varieties — Place in domestication — 
Management of domestic guineas 

XIII. Peafowls . 206 

Description — Origin — Place in domestication — Manage- 
ment 

XIV. Pheasants 211 

Description — Origin — History in America — Species and 
varieties — Place in domestication — Management of pheas- 
ants in confinement 

XV. Swans 222 

Description-^ Origin and history in domestication — Place in 
domestication — Management 

XVI. Ostriches 230 

Description — Origin and history in domestication — Place in 
domestication — Management 



x OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XVII. Pigeons 239 

Description — Origin — Distribution in ancient times — Im- 
proved varieties — The Carrier Pigeon — The Antwerp Homer 
— Tumbler and Tippler Pigeons — The Fantail Pigeon — 
Pouter Pigeons — Other important types — History in do- 
mestication — Place in domestication 

XVIII. Management of Pigeons ,..255 

Size of flock — Quarters for pigeons — Ventilation and cleanli- 
ness — Handling pigeons — Mating pigeons — Feeding — How 
pigeons rear their young 

XIX. Canaries 269 

Description — Origin — Improvement in domestication — 
Place in domestication — Management of canaries : Cages — 
Position of the Cage — Feeding — Care — Breeding 

XX. Distribution of Market Products 275 

Producers, consumers, and middlemen — How the middleman 
enters local trade — Additional middlemen — How the demand 
for poultry products stimulates production — Losses in distri- 
bution — Cold storage of poultry products — Methods of sell- 
ing at retail — Volume of products 

XXI. Exhibitions and the Fancy Trade 291 

Conditions in the fancy trade — Exhibitions — Rudiments of 
judging — Disqualifications — Methods of judging — Exhibition 
quality and value — Why good breeders have much low-priced 
stock — Fancy and utility types in the same variety 

XXII. Occupations related to Aviculture . . . . 304 

Judging fancy poultry and pigeons — Journalism — Art — In- 
vention — Education and investigation — Manufacturing and 
commerce — Legislation and litigation 

INDEX 3 11 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

CHAPTER I 

BIRDS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN 

Definition of a bird. A bird is a feathered animal. The 
covering of feathers is the only character common to all birds 
and not possessed by any other creature. The other characters 
— the bill, the wings, egg-laying, etc. — by which we usually dis- 
tinguish birds from animals of other kinds are not exclusive 
bird characters. Turtles have beaks, and there is one species 
of mammal (the ornithorhynchus) which has a bill like that 
of a duck. Many insects and one species of mammal (the 
bat) fly. Insects, fishes, and reptiles lay eggs, and there are 
several rare species of mammals that lay eggs and incubate 
them. On the other hand, some birds are deficient in one or 
more of the typical bird characters. The ostrich cannot fly. 
The penguin can neither fly nor run, and cannot even walk well. 
The cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, leaving to 
them the hatching and rearing of its young. These exceptional 
cases are very interesting because they show that animals now 
quite different in structure and habits had a common origin, but 
in no case is there such a combination of characters that any 
doubt arises whether the creature is a bird or a mammal. The 
characters which typically belong to birds attain their highest 
development in them, and in most cases this is due to peculiar 
adaptabilities of the feathers. 

The Anglo-Saxons' name for a bird was fugol (the flying 
animal). The young feathered creature they called bridd (the 



2 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

thing brooded). This name was also sometimes given to young 
mammals, but it applied especially to the young of feathered 
creatures which were more dependent upon the parent for 
warmth than others. Our English words "fowl" and "bird" 
come from these Anglo-Saxon terms. At first " fowl " was ap- 
plied to large birds and " bird " to small ones, but gradually the use 
of the name "fowl" was limited to the common domestic fowl, 
and "bird" became the generic name for all feathered creatures. 

Place of birds in the animal kingdom. Zoologists rank mam- 
mals higher than birds because man is a mammal and his 
general superiority to other creatures determines the rank of 
the class to which he belongs. Yet, while placing birds below 
mammals in a simple classification of animals, naturalists point 
out that birds are the most distinct class in the animal kingdom. 
If we compare birds and the lower mammals, and compare the 
relations of each class to man, we see at once that nothing else 
could take the place of birds either in nature or in civilization. 
Among birds are found the highest developments of animal 
locomotion and of the natural voice, capacity for language far 
beyond that of other creatures (except man), and family and 
community relations resembling those of the human race. 
Hitherto in the history of the world mammals have been more 
useful to man than birds, but birds have given him some of his 
best ideas, and with the advance of civilization the lower mam- 
mals become less necessary and birds more necessary to him. 

Flight of birds. It has been said that " on the earth and 
on the sea man has attained to powers of locomotion with 
which, in strength, endurance, and velocity, no animal move- 
ment can compare. But the air is an element on which he 
cannot travel, an ocean which he cannot navigate. The birds 
of heaven are still his envy, and on the paths they tread he 
cannot follow." 

Since that was written practical flying machines have been 
invented, but in these, as in boats and ships, man has merely 



BIRDS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN 3 

devised a machine which under his control can do laboriously 
and at great risk what the bird does naturally and easily. To 
birds man is indebted for his first lessons in navigating the 
water as well as for his ideas about airships. 

Voices of birds. With few exceptions the different kinds of 
animals have natural languages through which individuals of 
the same species can to some extent hold communication with 
each other, and which are partly intelligible to other creatures. 
In all mammals except man, and in most birds, the range of 
expression is very limited and the sound of the voice is dis- 
agreeable ; but a great many species of birds have very pleasing 
notes, many have very beautiful natural songs, and some readily 
learn the songs of other species. Man learned melody from 
the song birds. There are also many species of birds that can 
imitate a great variety of sounds, and even learn to speak words 
and short sentences. Birds that learn to talk often show intel- 
ligence in their use of words. This is the more remarkable be- 
cause the intelligence of birds is not of a high order, but is 
distinctly inferior to that of the common domesticated mammals. 

Social relations of birds. In aerial birds (except the cuckoos) 
the male and female pair, build a nest, and both take part 
in the incubation of the eggs and the feeding of the young. 
Usually a pair once mated remain mated for life and are very 
devoted to each other. In wild land birds the pairing habit is 
not of advantage to a species, but still the tendency to single 
matings is very strong. When land and water birds are domes- 
ticated man tries to break them of this habit because the males 
produce no eggs and he prefers to eat them while they are 
young and their flesh is tender. But, as will appear in detail 
when the different species of birds of this class are described, 
he does not always succeed in doing this. Even the domestic 
fowl and duck, in which pairing has been prevented for cen- 
turies, often show a strong tendency to pair ; and the females 
with broods of young usually separate from the flock until the 



4 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

little ones no longer need their care. With this separate family 
life there is still in most species of birds concerted action by 
communities in migrations, in forming colonies, in attacks on 
other creatures, and in defense from enemies. From the earliest 
times of which we have knowledge the devotion of birds to 
their mates and to their young has afforded the most common 
and most beautiful illustration of family life in nature. 

Place of birds in domestication. The place of birds among 
domestic animals corresponds to that of garden vegetables, small 
fruits, and flowers among cultivated plants. The great staple 
agricultural crops — corn, wheat, oats, barley, hay, apples, or- 
anges, horses, cattle, sheep, hogs, etc. — are produced mostly by 
men who make farming and stock-growing their business. But, 
while large quantities of garden vegetables, small fruits, flowers, 
poultry, pigeons, etc. are grown by people who specialize in 
them, the greater part of the supply in all lands comes from 
small gardens and small flocks on ordinary farms and in the 
back yards of town homes. 

Uses of birds in domestication. With the exception of the 
cage birds and the ostrich, all our domestic birds are valuable 
for their flesh ; but, as some kinds can be produced more easily 
and cheaply than others, people growing birds for the table give 
most attention to those that can be grown most profitably, and 
the others are grown principally by those who prize them for 
rarity, beauty, or some peculiar quality. 

The eggs of all birds are edible, but birds differ greatly in the 
number of eggs that they lay and in the disposition to lay them 
in places provided for the purpose. So, nearly all who keep 
birds for their eggs keep fowls, which are the most prolific and 
most docile, and hens' eggs are the staple eggs in the markets. 

The feathers of birds are used for pillows and beds, for feather 
dusters, and in various ways for ornament. Except in the case 
of the ostrich, however, the value of the feathers of domesticated 
birds is so small that no one grows birds primarily for their 



BIRDS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN 5 

feathers. On the other hand, those who keep birds for pleasure 
find their greatest enjoyment in breeding them with colors and 
markings difficult to produce. Choice specimens of fancy-bred 
birds bring prices many .times greater than the value of their 
flesh and eggs for food and of their feathers for use or orna- 
ment. Fancy feathers have no more value than others except 
on the living birds. 

While those who keep birds for pleasure nowadays give most 
attention to breeding fancy stock for exhibition, several kinds of 
pigeons are kept to entertain by their flying performances ; 
and — outside of the limited class of those who breed them es- 
pecially for exhibition — canaries are valued according to ability 
to sing. The brutal sport of cockfighting was a popular pastime 
with our ancestors until prohibited by law, and is still prevalent 
in many lands. In early times birds of prey were captured when 
very young and carefully trained to hunt for their masters. 
Under the feudal system there were regulations prescribing the 
kinds of birds which different classes of men might use in this 
way : the eagle and vulture were for emperors only ; the gyrfal- 
con for kings ; the lesser falcons for nobles ; the harrier for es- 
quires ; the merlin for ladies ; the goshawk for yeomen ; the 
kestrel for servants ; the sparrow hawk for priests. 

Much of the value of various kinds of poultry comes from 
their ability to destroy insects which damage vegetation, and to 
maintain themselves on these and on foods not available for 
the larger domestic mammals. The services of poultry in this 
respect being limited to those insects that can be secured from 
the ground, and to areas on which the birds can live safely and 
do no damage to crops, we are dependent upon wild aerial 
birds to keep insect life in check on trees and high bushes and 
on land not occupied by poultry. 

Place of wild birds in civilization. As no insect-eating aerial 
birds have been domesticated, the preservation of wild birds 
that destroy insects is of as much importance to man as the 



6 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

production of domestic birds. Indeed, the wild birds are much 
more valuable to us in the wild state than they would be if 
domesticated. 

In nature species prey upon each other — the lowest forms of 
life upon inorganic and decayed matter, the higher forms upon 
the lower, the larger creatures upon the smaller, the savage 
upon the defenseless. Fertile lands not only produce luxu- 
riant vegetation but teem with insect life, which, if not kept in 
check, would soon destroy that vegetation. In tropical and 
semitropical regions there are mammals, some of them quite 
large, which feed upon insects. In temperate regions where 
insects are not to be obtained during the winter, there would 
be no adequate check upon their increase and the consequent 
destruction of vegetation if it were not for the vast numbers 
of insect-eating migratory birds which come to these regions 
for the summer. Necessary as these birds are to vegetation on 
uncultivated lands, they are more necessary in cultivated fields, 
orchards, and gardens where the crops are more attractive to 
insects than the mixed vegetation on wild lands. As insect 
destroyers the domestic birds that are kept on cultivated lands 
only fill the place of the nonmigratory wild birds that have 
been driven away or exterminated. So it is to the interest of 
every one to protect insect-eating wild birds, for although these 
birds may do some damage to crops, their service usually more 
than pays for it. 

Classes of domestic birds. There are three classes of domestic 
birds — poultry, pigeons, and cage birds. The poultry class com- 
prises land and water birds and contains nine kinds — fowls, 
ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas, peafowls, pheasants, swans, and 
ostriches. The pigeon class has but one kind, the pigeon, 
which is the only aerial bird domesticated for economic pur- 
poses. The cage-bird class has as its most important repre- 
sentative the canary. The other birds of this class have never 
been popular in America. 



BIRDS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN 7 

The question of increasing the number of species of birds in 
domestication interests many people. There is a general impres- 
sion among those not familiar with the commercial aspect of avi- 
culture that many more species might be domesticated. While 
it is true that many birds capable of domestication have not 
been domesticated, there are few of these that would serve any 
purpose not better served by some species already domesticated. 
It will be shown as the different kinds and varieties of domestic 
birds are discussed that the most useful kinds are always the 
most popular, and that many others are kept principally as orna- 
ments. The number of ornamental creatures that can be kept 
in domestication is limited, for as a rule animals, like people, 
must earn their living. 



CHAPTER II 

CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS RELATED TO USE 

Feathers. The feathers of a bird are the most highly devel- 
oped form of protective covering in animals, serving other 
important functions in addition to the primary one. Compared 
with the hair of a mammal or the scale of a fish or of a reptile, 
a typical soft feather from the body of a bird is a very complex 
structure, partaking of the characters of both scales and hair. 
The fact that birds have scales and hair as well as feathers shows 
their relation to these other forms of animal covering. This is 
best observed on a fowl. The legs of a fowl are normally smooth, 
with scales on the front of the shank and on the upper surfaces 
of the toes. In feather-legged fowls the feathers appear first 
along the outer sides of the shanks and toes. As the number of 
feathers is increased they grow longer and more feathers appear, 
until in the most heavily feathered specimens the soft skin is 
covered and the scales are almost hidden. 

The face of a fowl is normally almost bare, the skin being a 
bright red like the comb and wattles ; but at a distance of a few 
feet we can usually see some very small, fine feathers on it, and if 
we examine closely we see in addition still finer growths — hairs. 
Among the body feathers of a fowl, too, are quite long hairs. 
These are most easily observed after a bird is plucked. They do 
not come out with the feathers, and are removed by singeing. 

Structure of feathers. The smallest feather that to the naked 
eye appears as something more complex than a hair, looks like 
a little bunch of fuzzy filaments. This is called down. 

In the next higher form of feather a small round quill appears 
with filaments protruding from it like the hairs in an artist's 



CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS 9 

brush. Such a feather is called a stub feather, or simply a stub. 
The best place to find these is on the outside of the shank of a 
fowl with scantily feathered legs. 

The first form of the complete feather is best observed either 
on the head of a fowl or at the hock joint. The feathers in these 
places are very small, yet complete. The round quill is length- 
ened into a shaft. Extending from each side of this shaft is a 
single row of filaments, called barbs, the edges of which, inter- 
locked with little hooks, form the web of the feather. On other 
parts of the body of the bird the feathers are larger, but the 
general structure is always the same. The size and special 
structure of the feather are always adjusted to suit the part on 
which it grows or the service which it has to perform. 

As the first function of the feathers is to keep the bird dry 
and warm, the body feathers are all soft as compared with the 
large stiff feathers of the wings and tail ; yet as we look at the 
feathers on different parts of the body of a bird we notice dif- 
ferences in their structure, and also notice that the structure of a 
feather is not always the same throughout its length. On the ex- 
posed parts of the feathers of the neck, back, wings, and breast 
the web is perfect and the feathers overlap so closely that they 
present a smooth surface. Under the surface, especially next 
the skin, the barbs are not smoothly joined, but are fluffy. Thus 
the same feathers which present a hard, smooth surface to the 
weather provide a soft, warm garment next the skin. Under 
the wings and on the underside of the body the feathers are 
quite fluffy throughout their whole length. 

Arrangement of the feathers. As you look at a living bird 
the feathers appear to grow on all parts of the body. When the 
feathers are removed from the bird you see that while the skin 
is nearly all rough, with the little elevations where the feathers 
were removed, there are quite large areas where the skin is per- 
fectly smooth, showing that no feathers grew there. These 
places are bare because feathers on them would interfere with 



IO 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



the movements of the bird. The feathers on adjacent parts 
give the smooth areas sufficient protection. 

Decorative feather forms. The natural decorative forms of 
plumage are found mostly in male birds and consist of extraor- 
dinary developments of the plumage of the neck and back, 
where the male birds of some species always have feathers 
differing in form from the feathers on the same parts of the 
female. When a feather appendage not common to a species is 
developed on some varieties, as the crest and beard on fowls 
and the ruff on pigeons, both sexes have it. The most inter- 
esting feather decorations will 
be described particularly in the 
chapters on the species on which 
they occur. 




Fig. i. Brown Leghorn chick 
(one day old) 



Color in feathers. While colors 
in the plumage are distributed 
very differently in different 
species of birds, often mak- 
ing combinations peculiar to a 
species, there is in all the same 
wonderful formation of patterns, 
that depends for its effect in a section upon some overlap- 
ping feathers being marked alike and others having a different 
marking ; and for the effect in a single feather, upon adjacent 
barbs being now alike, now different, in the distribution of the 
pigment in them. The best common example of a pattern cover- 
ing a series of feathers is found on the wing of a Mallard Duck 
or of a Rouen Duck. Interesting examples of the formation of 
patterns on a single feather may be found in the plumage of 
barred, laced, and penciled fowls, and also in the lacings on 
the body feathers of the females of the varieties of ducks men- 
tioned. Perhaps the most interesting illustrations of this kind, 
however, are to be seen on the plain feathers of the guinea and 
the gorgeous tail of the peacock. 



CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS II 

The pigment which colors the plumage may be found in 
soluble form in the quills of immature colored feathers. It is 
not conspicuous unless it is quite dark. In black fowls it is often 
so abundant that a part remains in the skin when the feathers 
are removed. After the pigment is deposited in the web of the 
feather the color is fast. Water does not affect it, but it fades 
a little with age and exposure. New plumage usually contains 
a great deal of oil, a condition which is most conspicuous in 
white birds, to whose plumage the oil gives a creamy tint. In 
colored birds the presence of a large amount of oil in feathers 
is desirable because it gives greater brilliance to the plumage. 



f^r r Ae^l 



Fig. 2. White Leghorn chicks (ten days old) 

Growth and molting of feathers. The first covering of a young 
bird is down. The young of birds which nest on the ground 
have the down covering when hatched ; others acquire it in a 
few days. In small land birds which feather quickly, as Leg- 
horn and Hamburg chicks, the largest wing feathers may have 
started to grow before the chick leaves the egg. In most kinds 
of poultry, however, the young show no signs of feathers for 
some days. The down is gradually replaced by small feathers, 
and these by larger feathers as the bird grows. As feathers in 
all stages of growth are found on the young bird at the same 
time, it is not known whether all feathers are molted the same 
number of times. In cases where some feathers were marked 
and watched, or where the colors changed with the changing 
feathers, it appeared that after the down three sets of feathers 



12 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

were grown in succession, the third and last making the adult 
plumage of the bird. This coat remains until the following 
summer or fall, when it is molted and replaced by a new one. 

Flight. The habit of flying is objectionable in domestic birds 
because it makes them more difficult to control. It has no di- 
rect use except in pigeons kept for flying. There is, however, 
a very important connection between development for flying 
and the value of birds for the table. The muscles of the wings 
furnish the greater part of the edible meat of most birds. The 
most desirable birds for food purposes are those which have the 
wing muscles well developed, yet not quite strong enough to 
enable them to fly easily. In such birds the breast meat re- 
mains comparatively soft through life, while in birds that fly 
well it becomes hard in a very short time. That is why the 
breast meat of the pigeon is relatively tougher in an old bird 
than the breast meat of a fowl or turkey. 

The balance between capacity for flight and neglect to use it, 
which is desired in birds grown for the table, is secured by 
giving them opportunity to exercise their wings moderately but 
not for progressive practice in flying, which would soon enable 
them to fly easily over the fences used to confine them. To regu- 
late such exercise the perches for birds that roost are made 
low, or in an ascending series in which each perch after the 
first is reached from the one below it, while fences are made so 
much higher than the distance the bird is accustomed to fly 
that the failures of its first efforts to go over them discourage 
it. Ducks and geese, which do not roost, flap their wings a 
great deal, and if they have room often exercise them by half 
running and half flying along the ground. 

Mechanism of the wing. In its structure and in the muscular 
power that moves it, the wing of a bird is a wonderful piece of 
mechanism. A bird in flying strikes the air with its wings so 
rapidly that the movements cannot be accurately counted. The 
heron, which is a slow-flying bird, makes from one hundred 



CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS 13 

twenty to one hundred fifty downward strokes of its wings a 
minute. As each downward stroke must be preceded by an up- 
ward stroke, this means that the wings make from two hundred 
forty to three hundred separate movements a minute. In such 
swift-flying birds as the pigeon the movements of the wings 
can be distinguished but cannot be counted. ' The fastest move- 
ments of the wings are not made by the swiftest fliers. In order 
to fly at all some land birds with comparatively small wings have 
to move them so fast that the movements make a blur and a 
whirring noise. The partridge is an illustration of a bird of 
this class. 

If the supporting surface of the wing of a bird were made of 
skin, like the web of the foot of a swimming bird, it would be 
necessary to fold the wing for each upward stroke. It is here 
that the structure of feathers adapts itself to the rapid action re- 
quired for movement in the air. The wing is not one surface 
but a series of narrow surfaces lapping in such a manner that 
they unite to form one broad surface when the downward stroke 
is made, and with the upward stroke are separated so that the 
air passes between them. Greater power in the downward stroke 
and less resistance in the upward stroke are also secured by the 
curvature of the wing. The under side is concave, the upper 
side convex. Thus in the downward stroke the wing gathers 
the air under it and so increases the pressure, while in the up- 
ward stroke it scatters the air and reduces the pressure. 

If the wing were equally rigid throughout, the movement of 
the bird would be mostly upward. The bird in flying moves 
forward because the front of the wing is rigid and the tips of 
the feathers, which are directed backward, are flexible. So the 
air compressed by the wing in the downward stroke escapes 
backward, and in doing so propels the bird forward. The 
principle is the same that is applied in the screw propeller of 
a boat or an airship, except that the wing vibrates while the 
propeller revolves. 



14 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

The most important function of the tail in flight is to balance 
the bird. It is of some assistance in steering, but a bird steers 
its course mostly by manipulation of the wings. 

Scratching. With the exception of the aquatic birds and the 
ostrich, all the species of poultry belong to the group called by 
naturalists Rasores or Scratchers. Birds of this class have legs 
of moderate length and very strong, with toes terminating in a 
stout claw. Normally they have three toes upon which the foot 
rests when they are standing on a flat surface, and a fourth toe, 
like a thumb, which assists the other toes to grasp a perch. Some 
individual birds and some races of birds have the fourth or hind 
toe double. The leg of a bird is so constructed that when it is 
bent as the bird sits on a narrow support the toes contract and 
grasp the support and hold it without any effort on the part of 
the bird. Thus the bird is as secure in its position on a limb 
when asleep as if wide awake and looking out for itself. 

In proportion to their ability to scratch, birds are able to find 
seeds and insects concealed among dead or living vegetation on 
the surface of the ground, and also to dig below the surface. 
Scratching capacity is most highly developed in the fowl. Com- 
pared to it the other land birds are very feeble scratchers, and 
do little damage by scratching if free to roam about. For ages 
the scratching propensity of fowls was regarded as a vice in 
them, but since people began to give special attention to poultry 
they have learned that fowls are much more contented and 
thrifty in confinement if their food is given them in a litter of 
leaves, straw, or shavings, in which they must scratch for it, and 
have also found that to some extent fowls may be used to culti- 
vate crops while destroying insects and weeds among them. 

Swimming. Capacity for swimming has an economic value 
in domestic birds because it adapts those possessing it to places 
which land birds rarely frequent. It will be shown when the 
different kinds of aquatic birds are described that each has its 
special place and use in domestication. 



CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS 1 5 

The swimming faculty in these birds is of further interest be- 
cause of its relation to the development of the body plumage. 
If a land bird is placed in the water, the feathers are quickly sat- 
urated, the water penetrating to the skin. A duck or other swim- 
ming bird will remain in the water for hours without the water 
penetrating the feathers. This is commonly supposed to be due 
to the presence of a large amount of oil in the feathers, but the 
difference in the oiliness of the feathers of fowls and of ducks 
is not great enough to account for the difference in resistance 
to the penetration of water. The peculiar quality of the plumage 
of swimming birds is its density. If you take up a fowl and 
examine the plumage you will find that it is easy to part the 
feathers so that the skin can be seen. It may be done with the 
fingers, or even by blowing gently among the feathers with 
the mouth. Now try to separate the feathers of a duck so that 
the skin will be visible. You find it much harder, because the 
feathers are so thick and soft and at the same time so elastic. 
The familiar phrase " like water from a duck's back " is not es- 
pecially appropriate. The feathers on the back of most birds 
are a very effective protection against rain. The feathers all 
over a duck are such poor conductors of water that it is hard to 
remove them by scalding. The structure of the plumage of 
swimming birds adds to their buoyancy in the water. They 
do not have to exert themselves to remain on the surface, but 
float like cork. 

Foods and mode of digestion. All kinds of poultry and most 
of our common wild birds are omnivorous eaters, but the pro- 
portion of different foods usually taken is not the same in dif- 
ferent kinds of birds. Some eat mostly grains, some mostly 
animal foods. Some can subsist entirely on grass if they can 
get it in a tender state ; others eat very little grass. The scratch- 
ing birds like a diet of about equal parts of grain, leaves, and 
insects. Pigeons and canaries live almost entirely on grains and 
seeds, but like a little green stuff occasionally. 



16 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Domestic birds which produce many eggs require special sup- 
plies of food containing lime to make the shells. Until within 
a few years it was universally believed — and it is still commonly 
supposed — that birds needed grit to take the place of the teeth 
nature did not give them, and assist in the grinding of the food 
in the gizzard. Many close observers now reject this idea 
because they find that birds supplied with digestible mineral 
foods do not eat those that are not digestible. A bird does 
not need teeth to grind its food, because it is softened in 
the crop and the gastric juice acts upon it before the grinding 
process begins. 

Peculiarities of birds ' eggs. The only animal foodstuff pro- 
duced in a natural package, easily preserved and handled, is the 
egg. In the vegetable world we have a great many such things — 
fruits, seeds, roots, nuts, with coverings of various textures to 
protect the contents from the air. In all of these the material 
stored up is either for the nourishment of the seeds in the first 
stages of growth as plants, or for the nourishment of a new or 
special growth. An egg is the seed of an animal. All animals 
produce eggs, but in mammals the new life originating from 
the egg goes through the embryonic stages within the body of 
the parent, while in insects, fishes, reptiles, and birds the egg 
is laid by the creature producing it before the embryo begins 
to develop. 

In mammals the embryo grows as a part of the body of the 
parent, the substances which build it up coming from the parent 
form as they are needed. In birds a tiny germ — the true egg — 
is put, with all the material needed for its development as an 
embryo, in a sealed package, which may be taken thousands of 
miles away from the parent, and, after lying dormant for weeks, 
may begin to grow as soon as the proper conditions of temper- 
ature are applied. The food value of the germ of an egg is in- 
appreciable. We use the egg to get the material stored up in 
it for the young bird which would come from the germ. 



CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS .17 

Development of the egg. The method of the formation of an 
egg is very interesting. It is the same in all birds, but is most 
conveniently studied in fowls. If a laying hen is killed and the 
body is opened so that the internal organs can all be seen, one 
of the most conspicuous of these is a large, convoluted duct 
having its outlet at the vent. In this duct, which is called the 
oviduct, are eggs in various stages of formation. At its upper 
extremity, attached to the backbone, is a bunch of globular yel- 
low substances which are at once identified as yolks of eggs in 
all sizes. The organ to which these are attached is the ovary. 
The smallest yolks are so small that they cannot be seen with- 
out a powerful microscope. These yolks are not germs, but as 
they grow the germ forms on one side of each yolk, where it 
appears as a small white spot. 

When a yolk is full-grown it drops into the funnel-shaped 
mouth of the oviduct. Here it is inclosed in a membranous 
covering, called the chalazae, and receives a coating of thick 
albumen. The function of the chalazae is to keep the yolk sus- 
pended in the center of the egg. It does not merely inclose 
the yolk, but, twisted into cords, extends from either end and is 
attached to the outer membrane at the end of the egg. 

After leaving the funnel the egg passes into a narrow part of 
the oviduct, called the isthmus, where it receives the membra- 
nous coverings which are found just inside the shell. From the 
isthmus it goes into the lowest part of the oviduct — the uterus. 
Here the shell is formed, and at the same time a thin albumen 
enters through the pores of the shell and the shell membranes 
and dilutes the thick albumen first deposited. After this process 
is completed the egg may be retained in the oviduct for some 
time. It is, however, usually laid within a few hours. 

Rate and amount of egg production. In the wild state a bird, 
if not molested after it begins laying, produces a number of 
eggs varying in different kinds, according to the number of 
young that can be cared for, and then incubates them. If its 



1 8 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

first eggs are removed or destroyed, the bird lays more, usually 
changing the location of its nest. In domestication the eggs of 
most kinds of birds are removed from the nests daily as laid, 
and the birds lay many more eggs before they stop to incubate 
than they do in the wild state. 

It is, and has been for ages, the common opinion that the 
wild birds and poultry, when first domesticated, were capable of 
laying only a small number of eggs each season, and that laying 
capacity has been enormously increased in domestication ; but 
the oldest reports that we have of the amount of egg production 
indicate that the laying capacity of fowls was as great centuries 
ago as it is at the present time. Recent observations on wild 
birds in captivity show that even birds which pair and usually 
lay only a few eggs each season have a laying capacity at least 
equal to the ordinary production of hens. Quails in captivity 
have been known to lay about one hundred eggs in a season, 
and an English sparrow from which the eggs were taken as laid 
produced over sixty. 

The constitutional capacity to produce ovules is now known 
to be far greater than the power of any bird to supply the ma- 
terial for the nourishment of germs through the embryonic stage. 
The principal factors in large egg production are abundance of 
food and great capacity for digesting and assimilating it. 

Incubation. A bird before beginning to lay makes a nest. 
Some birds build very elaborate and curious nests ; others merely 
put together a few sticks, or hollow out a little place on the 
ground. In birds that pair, the male and female work together 
to build the nest. Even in polygamous domestic birds like the 
fowl and the duck, a male will often make a nest for the females 
of his family and coax them to it as a cock pigeon does his mate. 

If the birds are left to themselves and the eggs are not mo- 
lested, an aerial bird will usually lay a number of eggs equal to 
the number of young the parents can feed as long as they require 
this attention, while a terrestrial or aquatic bird will usually lay 



CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS 



*9 




as many eggs as she can cover. The desired number of eggs 
having been laid, the process of incubation by the parents begins. 

The incubation of their eggs by birds is one of the most re- 
markable things in nature. We say that li instinct " leads birds 
to build their nests and to keep their eggs warm for a period 
varying from two weeks for small birds, to six weeks for the 
ostrich ; but " instinct " is only a term to describe the apparently 
intelligent actions of the lower animals, which we say have not 
intelligence enough to know 
the reasons for the things 
that they do. 

The mother of a young 
mammal knows that it came 
from herself, and she can 
see that it is like her and 
others of her kind. It at 
once seeks her care and 
responds to her attentions. 
The egg which a bird lays is as lifeless — to all appearances — 
as the stones which it often so closely resembles. Only after 
many days or weeks of tiresomely close attention does it produce 
a creature which can respond to the care lavished upon it. The 
birds incubating eggs not only give them the most unremitting 
attention, but those that fill their nests with eggs before begin- 
ning to incubate methodically turn the eggs and change their 
position in the nest, this being necessary because otherwise the 
eggs at the center of the nest would get too much heat and those 
at the outside would not get enough. A bird appears to know 
that if she begins to sit before she has finished laying, some 
of the eggs would be spoiled or would hatch before the others ; 
and, as noted above, aerial birds seem to know better than to 
hatch more young than they can rear. But no bird seems to have 
any idea of the time required to hatch its eggs, or to notice the 
lapse of time, or to care whether the eggs upon which it sits are 



Fig. 3. Sitting hen 



20 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



of its own kind or of some other kind, or to know whether the 
young when hatched are like or unlike itself. If eggs fail to 
hatch, domestic birds will, as a rule, remain on the nest until the 




Fig. 4. Fresh egg 1 



Fig. 5. Infertile egg (after twenty- 
four hours' incubation) 




Fig. 6. Fertile egg (after twenty- 
four hours' incubation) 



Fig. 7. Embryo (after seventy-two 
hours' incubation) 



eggs are taken away or until sheer exhaustion compels them to 
abandon the hopeless task. In domestication, however, those 
birds which continue laying most freely when their eggs are re- 
moved as laid, tend to lose the habit of incubation. Turkeys and 

1 Photographs (Figs. 4-8) from Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. 



CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS 



21 



geese will often begin to incubate after having laid about the 
number of eggs that they could cover. Many fowls will do the 
same, but most fowls lay for several months before attempting 
to incubate, and in many races not more than two or three per 
cent of the hens ever incubate. 

Development of the embryo in a bird's egg. The condition 
required to produce a live bird from a fertile egg is the continu- 
ous application of a temperature of about 102 or 103 degrees 




Fig. 8. Embryo (after seven days' 
incubation) 



Fig. 9. Chick ready to break 
shell 



Fahrenheit from the time the heat is first applied until the em- 
bryo is fully developed and ready to emerge from the shell. In 
nature the heat is applied by contact with the bodies of the 
parent birds. Development of life will start in an egg at about 
10 degrees below the temperature required to maintain it, but 
at this temperature the germ soon dies. The temperature in 
incubation may occasionally go higher than 103 degrees or may 
be as low as 70 degrees for a short time without injury to the 
germ. Some germs, will stand greater extremes of temperature 
than others, just as some living creatures will. 

The first stages of the development of life in the egg of a 
bird may be observed by holding the eggs before a strong light 
in a darkened room. White-shelled eggs are the best for this 



22 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. io. Egg before exclusion and partially 
excluded chick 



purpose. In about thirty-six hours from the beginning of incuba- 
tion it will be found that the germ has turned red, and little red 
veins radiate from it somewhat like the legs of a spider. For 

several days the egg 
is quite translucent 
and the yolk shows 
plainly. As the 
germ grows, the 
contents of the egg 
become clouded and 
dense, and the air 
space at the large 
end of the egg is 
clearly defined, the 
density being greatest near it. From the time that the egg be- 
comes dense, observations of development must be made by 
breaking one or more eggs daily or every few days, according 
to the number available for observation. 

The embryo grows until it fills the egg. The mere application 
of heat to the egg has gradually transformed that little germ 
and the yellow and white of egg 
into bones, flesh, skin (and, in 
some cases, down), and all the 
organs of a living creature. 
When the embryo has filled the 
shell, it lies curled up, usually 
with the head at the large end 
of the egg and the beak almost 
touching the shell, at about one 
third of the distance from the 
large to the small end of the 

egg. At the point of the beak of the young bird on the curved 
tip of the upper mandible is a small horny scale. Without this 
scale it would be hard for the embryo to break the shell because it 




Fig. ii. Light Brahma (day old) 



CHARACTERS AND HABITS OF BIRDS 23 

cannot, as it lies, strike it a direct blow with the point of its beak. 
This scale is a remarkable character. Its only use is to help the 
bird out of the shell. A few days after exclusion it disappears. 

If you take a hen's egg about the eighteenth or the nine- 
teenth day of incubation and hold it closely in your hand, you 
may be able to feel the chick move. If your hand is a little bit 
cold, the chick is much more likely to squirm in the egg and 
may utter a peep. If, with the egg in a warm hand, you hold it 
to your ear, you will about this time hear an occasional tap, 
tap, caused by the chicken striking its beak against the shell. 
The tapping is kept up more or less steadily until the shell 
cracks where the point of the beak strikes it and a little piece 
is broken out. The chick usually rests awhile now, — perhaps 
for some hours, — then resumes the attack on the shell. It turns 
in the shell, breaking out little pieces as it turns, until there is 
a crack nearly all the way around, when, by pushing with its head 
and feet, it forces the shell apart and sprawls out of it. 

The process is the same for all birds, except that those that 
take longest to develop in the shell take a longer rest after first 
breaking it. The young of aerial birds, which are naked when 
hatched, are ugly little things. Young poultry, too, are almost 
repulsive with their sprawling forms and the wet down plastered 
to the skin, but in a few hours they grow strong, the down dries 
and becomes fluffy, the bright little eyes seem to take in every- 
thing, and they are the most attractive of all baby animals. 



CHAPTER III 

SPECIES AND THEIR DIVISIONS IN DOMESTIC BIRDS 

The three general classes of domestic birds include few spe- 
cies but many varieties, and, outside of the distinct varieties, 
an indefinite number of individual types. Where varieties are 
as numerous as in the fowl, which has about three hundred, and 
the pigeon, which has a much greater number, the differences 
between them are often very slight. Sometimes the form of a 
single small character is the only distinguishing feature. But, 
if this is a fixed character, the variety is distinct. Where there 
are so many varieties it is hard to make short, appropriate de- 
scriptive names for all, if considered simply as varieties. For 
such diversity there must be a more extended classification. 
Such a classification, growing gradually with the increase in the 
number of varieties, will not be consistent throughout. Hence 
to understand clearly the relations of the artificial divisions 
of species in domestication we must know what a species is 
and how these divisions arise. 

Definition of species. Species are the natural divisions of 
living things. Each plant and animal species retains its dis- 
tinctive character through long ages because the individuals 
composing it can produce perfect offspring only (if asexual) of 
themselves, or (if bisexual) with others of their species. 

The self-isolation of species is well illustrated when similar 
plants grow together, as grasses in the same field and practi- 
cally on the same spot ; yet year after year all the old kinds are 
found and no new ones such as might come from a mixture of 
two kinds, if they would mix. In the higher animals, where the 
parent forms are of different- sexes, they choose mates of their 

24 



SPECIES IN DOMESTIC BIRDS 25 

own kind, and so each species remains distinct ; but if in a 
species there are many different types, such as we find in 
domestic fowls, the members of the species, when free to do 
so, mate as readily with types quite different from their own as 
with individuals exactly like them, and produce offspring of in- 
termediate types with all the essential characters of the species. 
In domestication individuals of distinct yet similar species are 
sometimes mated and produce offspring called hybrids, but 
these are sterile. The mule, which is a hybrid between the ass 
and the mare, is the most familiar animal of this kind. Hybrid, 
or mule, cage birds are produced by crossing the canary with 
several allied species. Among other domestic birds hybrids are 
almost unknown. 

Origin of species. Until near the close of the last century it 
was commonly believed that each species had been created in 
perfect form and that species were unchangeable ; but long be- 
fore that time some keen students of the natural sciences and 
close observers of the changes that take place in plants and 
animals in domestication had discovered that species were not 
perfectly stable and were changing slowly. Geologists estab- 
lished the fact that the earth, instead of being only a few thou- 
sand years old, had existed for countless centuries. Among 
fossil remains of creatures unlike any now known they had 
found also other forms which appeared to be prototypes of ex- 
isting species. The idea that the forms of life now on the earth 
had come from earlier and somewhat different forms had occur- 
red to several scientists more than a hundred years ago, but it 
was not until about i860 that a satisfactory explanation of pro- 
gressive development of forms of life was given to the world. 
This mode of creation is called evolution. 

The theory of evolution is that partly through their own 
inherent tendency to vary and partly through the influence of 
external things which affect them, all organisms change slowly ; 
that things of the same kind, separated and living under different 



26 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

conditions, may in time so change that they become separate 
species ; and that this process may be repeated indefinitely, the 
number of species constantly increasing and becoming more 
diversified and more highly developed. 

Such a theory would not be entitled to serious consideration 
unless it was known that the earth was millions of years old, 
because we know that races of fowls separated for over three 
thousand years (and perhaps twice as long) and developed into 
quite different varieties will breed together as readily as those of 
the same variety. But when it is certain that the earth is so old 
that there has been ample time for changes in living forms that 
would require periods of time beyond our comprehension, some 
of the relations of varieties and species of birds have an impor- 
tant bearing on the theory of evolution. 

As in the case of fowls just noted, we find that domestic 
ducks of the same species, after a separation of several thou- 
sand years, breed freely together. But our domestic ducks are 
not, like the fowls, all of the same species, and if individuals of 
different species are paired they produce only a few weak hy- 
brids. Our domestic geese are probably descended from two 
wild varieties, but races that were not brought together for thou- 
sands of years after they were domesticated are perfectly fertile 
together, while when mated with the American Wild Goose, 
which is not domesticated but will breed in captivity, they pro- 
duce only hybrids. The general resemblance between geese and 
ducks is very striking, yet they will not breed together at all. 

A comparison of these facts indicates that while three thou- 
sand, or even five or six thousand, years of separation may not 
be enough to break down the natural affinity of varieties of the 
same species, separation and difference of development will 
eventually make of varieties distinct species, a union of which 
will produce only hybrids, while a longer separation and further 
increase of differences makes the break between the species 
absolute and they will not breed together at all. 



SPECIES IN DOMESTIC BIRDS 27 

Natural varieties. A species having developed as a variety 
of an earlier species will continue to develop as one variety or 
as several varieties, according to conditions. If a part of a species 
becomes so separated from the rest that intercourse ceases, each 
division of the species may become a well-defined variety. 

Varieties in domestication. How a species when domesti- 
cated breaks up into varieties is well illustrated by the case of 
the fowl. The original wild species has long disappeared, but 
there is good reason to suppose that in size and color it was 
something between a Brown Pit Game and a Brown Leghorn. 
The birds were smaller than most fowls seen in this country to- 
day. The prevailing color was a dull brown, because that color 
best conceals a small land bird from its enemies. Fowls that 
were domesticated and given good care and an abundance of 
food would usually grow larger than the wild stock. Thus if 
any person, or the people generally in any community, system- 
atically gave their fowls good care, a variety of unusual size 
would be developed. 

Different colors would also appear in the flocks of fowls, be- 
cause the birds of unusual colors would be protected and pre- 
served, instead of being destroyed as they usually are in the wild 
state. Other peculiarities, too, such as large combs, crests, and 
feathered legs, would be developed in some lands and neglected 
in others. This is how it happened that after thousands of years 
in domestication the races of fowls in different parts of the world 
were quite different in size and form, but alike in being of 
many colors. 

From a species in this condition modern poultry breeders 
have made hundreds of distinct varieties. The easiest method 
of making a variety in domestication is to select specimens for 
breeding as near the desired type as possible, and to breed only 
from a few individuals in each generation which come nearest 
to the ideal type. In this way a variety that breeds quite true to 
the type may be established in from three or four to eight or 



28 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

ten years, according to the number of characters to be estab- 
lished as distinctive of the variety. Varieties are also made by 
crossing unlike individuals. This process is longer than the 
other, and sometimes requires a series of crosses to produce 
specimens approximating the ideal sought. After such speci- 
mens have been obtained the method is the same as in the first 
case. A variety is commonly considered to be well established 
when the greater part of the specimens produced are easily 
identified as of that variety. But no domestic variety is ever 
established in the sense that a species is. All are artificial, pro- 
duced by compulsory separation and preserved only as long as 
it is continued. 

Classification of domestic varieties of birds. Domestic varie- 
ties of all kinds of live stock were, at first mostly shape-varieties ; 
that is, the individuals of a variety were alike in shape but of 
various colors. This is the case still with some varieties. These 
shape-varieties are mostly the common types of certain countries 
or districts. Thus the Leghorn fowl is the common fowl of 
Italy, and the Houdan is a type common in a small district in 
France. Such shape-varieties are called breeds. When other 
types were made by crossing such breeds they also were called 
breeds. 

When people first began to be interested in the improvement 
of live stock, the popular idea of a breed was that it was a dom- 
estic species, and there are still many people who hold this view. 
This popular misconception of the nature of a breed is respon- 
sible for much of the inconsistency and confusion in the ordinary 
classifications of domestic varieties. To it also is due the use of 
the term " variety " to apply especially to color- varieties, which 
are the principal divisions of breeds. 

In the classification of domestic birds a variety is properly a 
color- variety of a breed. Thus in the Plymouth Rock breed there 
are six color-varieties — barred, white, buff, partridge, silver pen- 
ciled, and ermine (called Columbian) ; and in Fantail Pigeons 



SPECIES IN DOMESTIC BIRDS 29 

there are six color- varieties — white, blue, black, red, yellow, and 
silver. Birds of the same breed (shape) and the same variety 
(color) may differ in some other character, as the form of the 
comb or the presence or absence of feathers in certain places. 
In accordance with such differences varieties are divided into 
subvarieties. Thus, in Leghorn Fowls the brown, white, and buff 
varieties have single-combed and rose-combed subvarieties. 

In any breed, variety, or subvariety certain families are some- 
times distinguished for general or special excellence of form or 
color. Such a family is called a strain. 

Systematic mixtures of breeds and varieties. Although so 
many distinct varieties have been developed from common do- 
mestic stocks, the improved races do not always displace the 
mongrels. When the old mongrels disappear their place is often 
taken by a new mongrel stock produced by mixtures of the dis- 
tinct breeds with each other and with the old mongrel race. The 
greater part of such stock is so mixed that its relation to any es- 
tablished breed could not be determined or expressed, but sys- 
tematic mixtures are sometimes made, and to describe these the 
following terms are used : Crossbred — having parents of differ- 
ent, distinct breeds, varieties, or subvarieties. A Leghorn male 
mated with a Cochin female produces offspring each of which 
is in blood one half Leghorn and one half Cochin. Grade — 
having more than half of the blood of a breed. 

If the offspring of a cross such as is described in the preced- 
ing paragraph are mated with birds of one of the parent breeds, 
the offspring of this mating will have three fourths of the blood 
of that breed. If these in turn are mated to birds of the same 
pure breed, the offspring will have seven eighths of the blood of 
that breed. Animals bred in this way are called grades until the 
process has been carried so far that they are practically pure-bred. 
Mongrel stock is often graded up in this way. As a rule stock 
that is seven eighths pure is not distinguishable from average 
pure stock of the same breed. 



30 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Pure-bred, thoroughbred, and standard-bred. A pure-bred 
animal is, strictly speaking, one having the blood only of the 
variety to which it belongs. From what has been said of the 
making of breeds and varieties it is plain that absolute purity of 
blood is not a universal attribute of well-bred domestic birds. 
A thoroughbred animal is one that is thoroughly bred for some 
purpose or to some type. A standard-bred animal is one that 
is bred especially to conform to requirements agreed upon by 
breeders and exhibitors. 

A great deal of misapprehension and confusion in the use of 
these terms has been caused by the attitude of those who main- 
tain that the term " thoroughbred," having been used as a name 
for highly bred running horses, cannot properly apply to any 
other kind of live stock, and that "pure-bred" should apply to all 
thoroughly bred races. The noun "Thoroughbred" is the name 
of a breed of horses. The adjective "thoroughbred" is com- 
mon property. Writers on aviculture who wish to be accurate 
prefer it in many instances to " pure-bred " because absolute 
purity of blood is rare and is not of the importance in breeding 
that novices usually suppose. Not only are many new varieties 
made by crossing, but in long-established breeds out-crosses are 
regularly made to restore or intensify characters. 

To illustrate the use of the three terms in application to a 
single breed : A stock of Light Brahmas might be kept pure 
for half a century, yet at the end of that period might have 
changed its type entirely. It might be so deteriorated that it was 
worth less than common mongrels ; yet it is pure-bred stock. An- 
other stock of the same variety might be bred for table qualities, 
egg-production, and the same principal color-characteristics of 
the variety, but without attention to the fine points of fancy 
breeding. Such a stock is thoroughbred but not standard-bred. 



CHAPTER IV 



FOWLS 



The most useful of all birds is the common fowl, seen on 
almost every farm and in the back yards of many city and village 
homes. The fowl takes 
to the conditions of do- 
mestic life better than 
any other land bird. It 
is more cleanly in its 
habits, more productive, 
more intelligent, and 
more interesting than 
the duck, which ranks 
next in usefulness. 
Fowls supply nearly all 
the eggs and the 
greater part of the 
poultry meat that we 
use. Their feathers are 
of less value than those 
of ducks, geese, and 
turkeys. In the days 
when feather beds were 
common they were 
made usually of the 
body feathers of fowls. 
Now the feathers of fowls are used mostly for the cheaper 
grades of pillows and cushions, and in the making of feather 
boas and like articles. The wing and tail feathers have been 

3 1 




Fig. 12. Pet fowls — White Wyandottes and 

Game Bantams. (Photograph from Dr. J. C. 

Paige, Amherst, Massachusetts) 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 13. 



Single-combed Rhode Island 
Red male 1 



much used for decorating 
ladies' hats, and since the 
use of small wild birds in 
millinery decorations has 
been prohibited, the hackle 
feathers of cocks are quite 
extensively used in trimming 
hats. 

Description. Ordinary fowls 
are rather small land birds. 
The males at maturity weigh 
from four to five pounds each, 
and the females about a 
pound less. They are plump, 
rugged, and very active. If 
treated well they are bold, 

and with a little attention can easily be made very tame. If 

neglected and abused, they be- 
come shy and wild. The most 

striking peculiarities of the 

fowl are the fleshy comb and 

wattles which ornament the 

head, and the full tail which 

is usually carried well up and 

spread perpendicularly. The 

head appendages vary much in 

size and form. They are some- 
times very small, but never 

entirely wanting. The carriage 

of the tail also varies, but 

except in a few breeds bred 

especially for low tails it is 

noticeably high as compared with that of other poultry. Fowls 

1 Photograph from Lester Tompkins, Concord, Massachusetts. 




Fig. 14. Rose-combed Rhode Island 
Red female 1 



FOWLS 33 

are readily distinguished from other birds by the voice. The 
male crows, the female cackles. These are their most common 
calls, but there are other notes — some common to both sexes, 
some peculiar to one — which are the same in all races of fowls. 
An abrupt, harsh croak warns the flock that one of their num- 
ber has discerned a hawk or noticed something suspicious in 
the air. A slowly repeated cluck keeps the young brood advised 
of the location of their mother. If she finds a choice morsel of 
food, a rapid clicking sound calls them about her. When she 
settles down to brood them she calls them with a peculiar 
crooning note. The male also cackles when alarmed, and when 
he finds food calls his mates in the same way that the female 
calls her young under the same circumstances. Other poultry 
and sometimes even cats and dogs learn this call and respond 
to it. If the food discovered is something that a stronger animal 
wants, the bird making the call may lose it because of his eager- 
ness to share the treasure with the members of his family. 

In adult fowls the male and female are readily distinguished 
by differences in appearance as well as by the voice. The comb 
and wattles of the male are larger, and after he has completed 
his growth are always of the same size and a bright red in 
color. In the female the comb is much smaller than that of 
a male of the same family, and both size and color vary period- 
ically, the comb and wattles being larger and the whole head 
brighter in color when the female is laying. The tail of the 
male is also much larger than that of the female and has long 
plumelike coverts. The feathers of his back and neck are long, 
narrow, and flowing, and in many varieties are much brighter in 
color than the corresponding feathers on the female. The male 
has a short, sharp spur on the inside of each leg, a little above 
the hind toe. Occasionally a female has spurs, but they are usu- 
ally very small. With so many differences between male and 
female the sex of an adult fowl is apparent at a glance. In the 
young of breeds which have large combs the males begin to 



34 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



grow combs when quite small, and so the sex may be known 
when they are only a few weeks old. In other breeds the sex 
may not be distinguished with certainty until the birds are several 
months old, or, in some cases, until they are nearly full-grown. 




Fig. 15. White Polish male (crowing) and female. (Photograph from 
Leontine Lincoln Jr., Fall River, Massachusetts) 



The adult male fowl is called a cock, and also, in popular 
phrase, a rooster. The adult female fowl is called a hen. The 
word " hen " is the feminine form of liana, the Anglo-Saxon 
name for the cock. It is likely that the name " cock," which it 
is plain was taken from the first syllable of the crow of the bird, 
was gradually substituted for hana because it is shorter. Hana 
means " the singer." A young fowl is called a chicken until the 



FOWLS 35 

sex can be distinguished. After that poultry fanciers call the 
young male a cockerel and the young female a pullet. The word 
" pullet " is also used by others, but the popular names for a 
cockerel are crower and young rooster. The word "cockerel," 
as is seen at a glance, is the diminutive of " cock." The word 
"pullet," sometimes spelled poidet, is a diminutive from the 
French poule, "a hen." 

Origin of the fowl. Of the origin of the fowl we have no 
direct knowledge. It was fully domesticated long before the be- 
ginnings of history. There is no true wild race of fowls known. 
For a long time it was commonly held that the Gallus Bankiva, 
found in the jungles of India, was the ancestor of all the races 
of the domestic fowl, but this view was not accepted by some of 
the most careful investigators, and the most recent inquiries into 
the subject indicate that the so-called Gallus Bankiva is not a 
native wild species but a feral race, that is, a race developed in 
the wild from individuals escaped from domestication. 

Appearance of the original wild species. The likeness of the 
fowls shown in ancient drawings to the ordinary unimproved 
stock in many parts of the world to-day shows that — except as 
by special breeding men have developed distinct races — fowls 
have not changed since the most remote times of which records 
exist. From the constancy of this type through this long period 
it is reasonably inferred that no marked change in the size and 
shape of the fowl had occurred in domestication in prehistoric 
times, and therefore that the original wild fowl very closely re- 
sembled fowls which may be seen wherever the influence of 
improved races has not changed the ordinary type. The par- 
ticular point in which the wild species differed from a flock of 
ordinary domestic fowls was color. Domestic fowls, unless care- 
fully bred for one color type, are usually of many colors. In 
the wild species, as a rule, only one color would be found, and 
that would be brown, which is the prevailing color among small 
land birds. 



36 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Distribution of fowls in ancient times. From drawings and 
descriptions on ancient tablets and from figures on old coins it 
appears that the fowl was familiar to the Babylonians seven 
thousand years ago, and that it was introduced into Egypt about 
4600 b.c. Chinese tradition gives 1400 b.c. as the approximate 
date of the introduction of- poultry into China from the West. At 

the time of the founding 
of Rome the fowl was 
well known throughout 
Northern Africa, and in 
the Mediterranean coun- 
tries of Europe as far 
west as Italy and Sicily. 
It was also known in 
Japan at this time. 
Whether it was known 
in India is uncertain ; 
if not, it was brought 
there soon after. It is 
supposed that immedi- 
ately following their con- 
quests in Central and 
Western Europe the 
Romans introduced their 
poultry into those re- 
gions. Thus, at about 
the beginning of the Christian Era, the fowl was known to all 
the civilized peoples of the Old World and had been introduced 
to the less civilized races of Europe. 

Development of principal races of fowls. There is no evidence 
that any of the ancient civilized peoples made any effort to im- 
prove the fowl, nor have any improved races been produced in the 
lands where those civilizations flourished. Outside of this area 
many different types were gradually developed to suit the needs 




Fig. 16. Light Brahma cockerel 



FOWLS 



37 



or the tastes of people in different countries and localities. Thus 
in the course of centuries were produced from the same original 
wild stock fowls as unlike as 




Fig. 17. Light Brahma hen 



the massive Brahma, with 
feathered legs and feet, and 
the diminutive Game Ban- 
tam ; the Leghorn, with its 
large comb, and the Polish, 
with only the rudiments of a 
comb and in its place a great 
ball of feathers ; the Spanish, 
with monstrous development 
of the skin of the face, and 
the Silky, with dark skin and 
hairlike plumage. Except in 
a few limited districts these 
special types did not displace 
the ordinary type for many 
centuries. Until modern times they were hardly known outside 

of the districts or the countries where they 
^^ originated. Of the details of their origin 

^l nothing is known. They were not of the 

^jjfll / . highly specialized and finished types such 

^(JkjP^ as are bred by fanciers now. Their dis- 

tinctive features had been established, but in 

comparatively crude 

form. The refining 

and perfecting of 

all these types has 

been the work of 
fanciers in Holland, Belgium, England, 
and America in modern times. These 
fanciers have also developed new races 
of more serviceable types. 



Fig. iS. Red Pile Game 
Bantam cock 




Fig. 19. Red Pile Game 
Bantam hen 



36 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



How fowls were kept in old times. Less than a century ago 
it was quite a common practice among the cottagers of England 
and Scotland to keep their fowls in their cottages at night. 
Sometimes a loft, to which the birds had access by a ladder 

outside, was fitted up 
for them. Sometimes 
perches for the fowls 
were put in the living 
room of the cottage. 
Such practices seem to 
us wrong from a sanitary 
standpoint, but it is only 
within very recent times 
that people have given 
careful attention to sani- 
tation, and in old times, 
when petty thieving was 
more common than it is 
now, there was a de- 
cided advantage in hav- 
ing such small domestic 
animals as poultry and 
pigs where they could 
not be disturbed with- 
out the owner's knowing 
it. The practice of keep- 
ing fowls in the owner's 
dwelling seems to have 
been confined to the 
poorer people, who had no large domestic animals for which 
they must provide suitable outbuildings. On large farms special 
houses were sometimes provided for poultry, but they were 
probably oftener housed with other animals, for few people 
thought it worth while to give them special attention. 




Fig. 20. White- Faced Black Spanish cockerel 

(Photograph from R. A. Rowan, Los Angeles, 

California) 



FOWLS 



39 



Throughout all times and in all lands the common domestic 
birds have usually been the special charge of the women and 
children of a household. In some countries long-established 
custom makes the poultry, the personal property of the wife. A 
traveler in Nubia about seventy years ago states that there the 




Fig. 21. Silver-Spangled Polish cock and hen. (Photograph from 
Leontine Lincoln Jr., Fall River, Massachusetts) 

henhouse, as well as the hens, belonged to the wife, and if a 
man divorced his wife, as the custom permitted, she took all 
away with her. 

The flocks of fowls were usually small in old times. It was 
only in areas adjacent to large cities that a surplus of poultry or 
eggs could be disposed of profitably, and as the fowls were 
almost always allowed the run of the dooryard, the barnyard, 



4Q 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



and the outbuildings, the number that could be tolerated, even 
on a large farm, was limited. As a rule the fowls were expected 
to get their living as they could, but in this they were not so 
much worse off than other live stock, or than their owners. But, 
while this was the ordinary state of the family flock of fowls, 
there were frequent exceptions. The housewife who is thrifty 

always manages affairs 
about the house better 
than the majority of her 
neighbors, and in older 
poultry literature there 
are occasional state- 
ments of the methods 
of those who were most 
successful with their 
fowls, which we may 
well suppose were meth- 
ods that had been used 
for centuries. 

Modern conditions and 
methods. About a hun- 
dred years ago people in 
England and America 
began to give more at- 
tention to poultry keep- 
ing, and to study how to 
make poultry (especially fowls) more profitable. This interest in 
poultry arose partly because of the increasing interest in agricul- 
tural matters and partly because eggs and poultry were becoming 
more important articles of food. Those who studied the situation 
found that there were two ways of making poultry more profit- 
able. One way, which was open to all, was to give the birds bet- 
ter care ; the other was to replace the ordinary fowls with fowls 
of an improved breed. So those who were much interested 




Fig. 22. Black Langshan cock. (Photograph 
from Urban Farms, Buffalo, New York) 



FOWLS 



41 



began to follow the practices of the most successful poultry 
keepers that they knew, and to introduce new breeds, and 
gradually great changes were made in the methods of produc- 
ing poultry and in the types of fowls that were kept in places 
where the interest in poultry was marked. 

Nearly all farmers now keep quite large flocks of fowls. 
Many farmers make the most of their living from poultry, and 
in some places nearly every farm is devoted primarily to the 
production of eggs and of 
poultry for the table. Fowls 
receive most attention, al- 
though, as we shall see, some 
of the largest and most profit- 
able farms are engaged in 
producing ducks. In the 
suburbs of cities and in vil- 
lages all over the land many 
people keep more fowls now 
than the average farmer did 
in old times. These city poul- 
try keepers often give a great 
deal of time to their fowls 
and still either lose money 
on them or make very small 
wages for the time given to 
this work, because they try to keep too many in a small space, 
or to keep more than they have time to care for properly. 

The breeding of fancy fowls is also an important pursuit. 
Those who engage in this line on a large scale locate on farms, 
but many of the smaller breeders live in towns, and the greater 
number of the amateur fanciers who breed fine fowls for pleasure 
are city people. 

On large poultry farms the work is usually done by men. 
There are many small plants operated by women. The ordinary 




Fig. 23. Black Langshan hen. (Photo- 
graph from Urban Farms, Buffalo, 
New York) 



42 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



farm and family flocks are cared for by women and children 
much oftener than by men, because, even when the men are 
interested in poultry, other work takes the farmer away from the 
vicinity of the house, and the city man away from home, so 
much that they cannot look after poultry as closely as is neces- 
sary to get the best results. Many women like to have the care 
of a small flock of fowls, because it takes them outdoors for a 

few minutes at inter- 
vals every day, and the 
eggs and poultry sold 
may bring in a con- 
siderable amount of 
pin money. Many 
boys, while attending 
the grammar and high 
schools, earn money 
by keeping a flock 
of fowls. Some have 
saved enough in this 
way to pay expenses at 
college for a year or 
more, or to give them 
a start in a small busi- 
ness. When there are 
both boys and girls in a family, such outdoor work usually falls 
to the lot of a boy. A girl can do just as well if she has the 
opportunity and takes an interest in the work. 

Native fowls in America. To appreciate the influence of 
improved races of fowls from various parts of the Old World 
upon the development of poultry culture in America, we must 
know what the fowls in this country were like when poultry 
keepers here began to see the advantages of keeping better 
stock, and must learn something of the history of the improved 
races in the countries from which they came. 




Fig. 24. Pit Game cock. (Photograph from 
W. F. Liedtke, Meriden, Connecticut) 



FOWLS 



43 




Fig. 25. Dominique cockerel. (Photograph from 
W. H. Davenport, Coleraine, Massachusetts) 



When we speak of 
native fowls in America 
we mean fowls derived 
from the stocks brought 
here by the early settlers. 
The fowl was not known 
in the Western Hemi- 
sphere until it was 
brought here by Euro- 
peans. Britain, France, 
Spain, Holland, and 
Sweden all sent colonists 
to America, and from 
each of these countries 
came, no doubt, some 
of the ordinary fowls of 
that country. Perhaps 



improved varieties came from some of these lands in early 
colonial times, but the only 
breeds that retained their iden- 
tity sufficiently to have distinc- 
tive names were the Game 
Fowls, which came mostly from 
England, and the Dominiques 
(bluish-gray barred fowls which 
probably came from Holland or 
from the north of France, where 
fowls of this type were common). 
The Game Fowls, being prized 
for the sport of cockfighting, 
were often bred with great care, 
but the Dominique fowls (also 
called cuckoo fowls and hawk-colored fowls) were mixed with 
other stock, and the name was commonly given to any fowl of 




Fig. 26. Dominique hen. (Photo- 
graph from Skerritt and Son, Utica, 
New York) 



44 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 27. Silver-Gray Dorking cock 



that color, until after the 
improvement of fowls 
began. Then some peo- 
ple collected flocks of 
fowls of this color and 
bred them for uniform- 
ity in other characters. 
Well-bred fowls, how- 
ever, were compara- 
tively rare. Most of the 
stock all through the 
country was of the little 
mongrel type until about 
the middle of the last 
century. Then that type 
began to disappear from 
New England, New 
York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. It remained 
longer in the Northern states west of the Allegheny Mountains 
and a generation ago 
was still the most com- 
mon type in the upper 
Mississippi Valley. It 
is now unknown outside 
of the Southern states, 
and within ten or twenty 
years it will disappear 
entirely. 

Old European races 
of fowls. With the ex- 
ception of the Leghorn, 
most of the distinct FlG - 28 - Silver " Gra y Dorking hen 

breeds of European origin were brought from England, and the 
types introduced were not the types as developed in the places 




FOWLS 



45 




Fig. 29. Single-Comb Brown Leghorn cockerel 

(Photograph from Grove Hill Poultry Yards, 

Waltham, Massachusetts) 



where the breeds (other 
than English breeds) 
originated, but those 
types as modified by 
English fanciers. In 
America, again, most of 
these breeds have been 
slightly changed to con- 
form to the ideas of 
American fanciers. So, 
while the breed charac- 
ters are still the same as 
in the original stocks, 
the pupil looking at 
birds of these breeds to- 
day must not suppose 
that it was just such 



birds that came to this country from seventy to a hundred years 

ago, or that, if he went to the countries where those races 

originated, he would find 

birds just like those he had 

seen at home. Except in the 

case of the distinctly English 

breeds, such as the Dorking 

and the Cornish Indian 

Game, which are bred to 

greater perfection in their 

native land than elsewhere, 

he would find most of the 

European races not so highly 

developed in the countries 

where they originated as in 

England and America, where 

# (Photograph from H. J. Fisk, Falconer, 

fanciers are more numerous. New York) 




4 6 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 31. Silver-Spangled Hamburg cock 1 



Italian fowls. Strictly speaking, the Italian fowls in Italy are 

not an improved race. The fowl which is known in this country 

as the Leghorn fowl (because 
the first specimens brought 
here came from the port of 
Leghorn) is the common 
fowl of Italy and has changed 
very little since it was in- 
troduced into that country 
thousands of years ago. It 
is found there in all colors, 
and mostly with a single 
comb. The Italian type is 
of particular interest, not 
only because of its influence 
in modern times, but be- 
cause from it were probably 

derived most of the other European races. Italian fowls were 

first brought to this country 

about 1835, but did not at- 
tract popular attention until 

twenty-five or thirty years 

later. 

English races of fowls. 

It is supposed that fowls 

were introduced into Britain 

from Italy shortly after the 

Roman conquest. The type 

was probably very like that 

of ordinary Leghorn fowls 

of our own time, but with 

smaller combs. From such stock the English developed two 

very different races, the Pit Game and the Dorking. Game fowls 

1 Photograph from Dr. J. S. Wolfe, Bloomfield, New Jersey. 




Fig. 32. Silver-Spangled Hamburg hen 1 



FOWLS 



47 




Fig. 33. White-Crested Black Polish cock 1 



were bred in all parts 
of the kingdom, but the 
Dorkings were a local 
breed developed by the 
people in the vicinity of 
the town of Dorking, 
where from very early 
times the growing of 
poultry for the London 
market was an important 
local industry. Each in 
its way, these two breeds 
represent the highest 
skill in breeding. In the 
Old English Game Fowl, 
symmetry, strength, en- 
durance, and courage were combined to perfection. The Dorking 
is the finest type of table fowl 
that has ever been produced. 

German and Dutch races. 
The breeds now known as Ham- 
burgs and Polish are of peculiar 
interest to a student of the evo- 
lution of races of fowls, because 
they present some characters 
not readily derived from the 
primitive type of the fowl. The 
feather markings of some vari- 
eties of both these breeds are 
unlike those of other races, and 
are markings which would not 

be likely to become established unless the fowls were bred sys- 
tematically for that purpose. So, too, with the large crest of the 

1 Photograph from Charles L. Seely, Afton, New York. 




Fig. 34. White-Crested Black 
Polish hen 1 



4 8 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 35. Houdan cock. (Photograph from the 
Houdan Yards, Sewickley, Pennsylvania) 



Polish fowl : to carry 
it the structure of the 
head must be changed. 
Such changes require 
systematic breeding for 
a long period. Dutch 
and German artists of 
the sixteenth century 
painted many farmyard 
scenes showing fowls 
of both these types, 
frequently in flocks 
with common fowls 
and with some that 
appear to be a mixture. 
To any one versed in 



the breeding of poultry this indicates that these peculiar types 
had been made by very 
skillful breeders long 
before. The most rea- 
sonable supposition is 
that these breeders were 
monks in the monas- 
teries of Central Europe. 
Throughout the Middle 
Ages the monks of 
Europe, more than any 
other class of men, 
worked for improve- 
ment in agriculture as 
well as for the advance- 
ment of learning. 

French races. The Houdan is the only French breed well 
known in America. It is of the Polish type, but heavier, and 




Fig. 36. White Minorca hen. (Photo- 
graph from Tioga Poultry Farm, Apala- 
chin, New York) 



FOWLS 



49 



the plumage is mottled irregularly, not distinctly marked as in 
the party-colored varieties of Polish. The breed takes its name 
from the town of Houdan, the center of a district in which this 
is the common type of fowl. 

Spanish races. The fowls of Spanish origin well known out- 
side of Spain are the White-faced Black Spanish, the Black 
Minorca, and the Blue Andalusian. The fowls of Spain at 
the present time are 
mostly of the Italian 
type, with black (or 
in some districts 
blue) the predom- 
inant color. The 
Black Spanish seems 
to have been known 
in Holland and Eng- 
land for two hun- 
dred years or more. 
In Spain the white 
face is but mod- 
erately developed. 
The monstrous ex- 
aggeration of this 
character began in 
Holland and was 
carried to the extreme by British fanciers who admired it. 

The Black Minorca is supposed to have been brought to Eng- 
land direct from Spain about a century ago. There it was bred to 
much greater size, with the comb often so large that it was a bur- 
den to the fowl. Blue Andalusians, at first called Blue Spanish 
and Blue Minorcas, were first known in England about 1850. 

Asiatic races of fowls. The evolution of races of fowls in the 
Orient gave some general results strikingly different from those 
in Europe. As far as is known, after the introduction of fowls 




Fig. 37. Black Minorca cock. (Photograph from 
Arthur Trethaway, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) 



50 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Buff Cochin hen 1 



into China and India some 
thousand years ago the stock 
which went to those countries 
and that which descended 
from it was completely .iso- 
lated from the fowls of 
Western Asia, Africa, and 
Europe until the eighteenth 
century. When commerce 
between Europe, India, and 
--the East Indies began, the 
Europeans found in these 
countries fowls of a much 
more rugged type than those 

of Europe. Some of these fowls were much larger than any that 

the visitors had seen. 

The Aseel of India was 

a small but very strong, 

stocky type of Game. 

Among the Malayans 

the common fowl was 

a large, coarse type of 

Game. The hens of 

these breeds laid eggs 

of a reddish-brown color, 

while hens of all the 

races of Europe laid 

white eggs. Birds of 

both these types were 

taken to England early 

in the last century, and 

perhaps in small num- 
bers before that time. 




Fig. 39. Buff Cochin cock 1 



Photograph from Tienken and Case, Rochester, Michigan. 



FOWLS 



51 




Fig. 40. Dark Brahma hen 

that until the middle of the 
the birds were brought 
in small numbers for 
friends of sailors or for 
persons particularly in- 
terested in poultry, and 
at that time there was 
no means of communi- 
cation between fanciers 
in different localities. 

Japanese races. Al- 
though the Japanese 
races of fowls had no 
particular influence on 
the development of poul- 
try culture in America, 
they are of great inter- 
est in a study of poul- 
try types, because, when 



Chinese races. In China a 
type of fowl in some ways much 
like the Malay, in others quite 
different, had been developed 
as the common stock of the 
country. They were about as 
tall as the Malays, much heav- 
ier, and very quiet and docile. 
They were of various colors, 
had feathers on the shanks 
and feet, and laid brown eggs. 
Some of these fowls were 
brought to America in sailing 
vessels very early in the last 
century and occasionally after 
century, but attracted no attention, for 




Fig. 41. Dark Brahma cockerel 



52 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



intercourse between Japan and Western nations began, it was 
found that the ordinary fowls of Japan were much like the 
ordinary fowls of Europe and America, and not, as would be 
expected, like the fowls of China. This indicated that there 
had been no exchange of fowls between China and Japan after 
the type in China became changed. It also affords strong evi- 
dence that the fowls of India and China, although so changed, 

were originally like 
the European and 
Japanese common 
fowls. The special 
races developed in 
Japan were Game 
Fowls, more like 
the European than 
the Malay type ; 
a long-tailed fowl, 
very much like the 
Leghorn in other 
respects; and the 
very short-legged 
Japanese Bantam. 
The "hen-f ever' ' 
period. We are all 
familiar with the 
phrase "the hen fever" and with its application to persons 
intensely interested in poultry, but few know how it originated. 
The interest in better poultry that had been slowly growing in 
the Eastern states culminated in 1849 in an exhibition in the 
Public Garden in Boston, to which fanciers from eastern Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island, and eastern Connecticut brought their 
choicest and rarest specimens. This was the first poultry show 
held in America. Nearly fifteen iiundred birds were exhibited, 
and the exhibitors numbered over two hundred. There were 




Fig. 42. Long-Tailed Japanese Phoenix cockerel 
(Photograph from Urban Farms, Buffalo, New York) 



FOWLS 53 

a few birds of other kinds, but fowls made by far the greater 
part of the show. All the principal races of Europe and Asia 
were represented. Most of the exhibitors lived in the immediate 
vicinity of Boston. About ten thousand people attended this 
exhibition. 

Such an event created a great sensation. Newspaper reports 
of it reached all parts of the country. The Chinese fowls, so 
large when compared with others, were most noticed. At once 
a great demand for these fowls and for their eggs arose, and 
prices for fancy poultry, which previously had been but little 
higher than prices for common poultry, rose so high that those 
who paid such prices for fowls were commonly regarded as 
monomaniacs. While the interest was not as great in other 
kinds of fowls as in the Shanghais, Cochin Chinas, and " Brah- 
maputras," as they were then called, all shared in the boom, 
and within a few years there was hardly a community in the 
northeastern part of the United States where there was not 
some one keeping highly bred fowls. When the interest became 
general, the famous showman, P. T. Barnum, promoted a show 
of poultry in the American Museum in New York City. Many 
celebrated men became interested in fine poultry. Daniel Web- 
ster had been one of the exhibitors at the first show in 1849. 
The noted temperance lecturer, John B. Gough, was a very 
enthusiastic fancier. 

After a few years the excitement began to subside, and most 
people supposed that it was about to die, never to revive. A 
Mr. Burnham, who had been one of the most energetic pro- 
moters of Asiatic fowls, and had made a small fortune while the 
boom lasted, had so little confidence in the permanence of the 
poultry fancy that he published a book called " The History of 
the Hen Fever," which presented the whole movement as a 
humbug skillfully engineered by himself. This book was very 
widely read, and the phrase "the hen fever," applying to 
enthusiastic amateur poultry keepers, came into common use. 



54 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Subsequent developments showed that those who had sup- 
posed that the interest in fine poultry was only a passing fad 
were wrong. The true reason for its decline at that time was 
that the nation was approaching a crisis in its history and a 
civil war. When the war was over, the interest in poultry revived 
at once, and has steadily increased ever since. The prices for 
fine specimens, which were considered absurd in the days of the 

hen fever, are now ordi- 
nary prices for stock of 
high quality. 

How the American 
breeds arose. It is natural 
to suppose that with such 
a variety of types of fowls, 
from so many lands, there 
was no occasion for Amer- 
icans to make any new 
breeds. If, however, you 
look critically at the for- 
eign breeds, you may 
notice that not one of 
them had been developed 
with reference to the sim- 
ple requirements of the 
ordinary farmer and poul- 
try keeper. It was the 




Fig. 43. Barred Plymouth Rock cock. (Pho- 
tograph from Bureau of Animal Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture) 



increasing demand for eggs and poultry for market that had 
given the first impulse to the interest in special breeds. The 
first claim made for each of these was that it was a better layer 
than the ordinary fowl. In general, these claims were true, but 
farmers and others who were interested primarily in producing 
eggs and poultry for the table were rather indifferent to the 
foreign breeds, because, among them all, there was not one as 
well adapted to the ordinary American poultry keeper's needs 



FOWLS 



55 



as the old Dominique or as the occasional flocks of the old 
native stock that had been bred with some attention to size 
and to uniformity in other characters. 

To every foreign breed these practical poultry keepers found 
some objection. The Dorking was too delicate, and its five-toed 
feet made it clumsy. The Hamburgs, too, were- delicate, and the 
most skillful breeding was required to preserve their beautiful 
color markings. The superfluous feathers on the heads of 
the crested breeds and on the feet of the Asiatics were equally 
objectionable. All the Euro- 
pean races except the Leghorns 
had white skin and flesh-colored 
or slate-colored feet, while in 
America there was a very de- 
cided popular preference for 
fowls with yellow skin and legs. 
The Leghorns and the Asiatics 
met this requirement, but the 
former were too small and their 
combs were unnecessarily large, 
while the latter were larger fowls 
than were desired for general 
use, and their foot feathering 
was a handicap in barnyards 
and on heavy, wet soils. 

So, while fanciers and those 
who were willing to give their poultry special attention, or who 
kept fowls for some special purpose which one of the foreign 
breeds suited, took these breeds up eagerly, farmers and other 
poultry keepers usually became interested in them only to the 
extent of using male birds of different breeds to cross with 
flocks of native and grade hens. In consequence of this promis- 
cuous crossing, the stock in the country rapidly changed, a new 
type of mongrel replacing the old native stock. 




Fig. 44. Barred Plymouth Rock hen 

(Photograph from Bureau of Animal 

Industry, United States Department 

of Agriculture) 



56 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



While the masses of poultry keepers were thus crossing new 
and old stock at random, many breeders were trying systemati- 
cally to produce a new breed that would meet all the popular 
requirements. Even before the days of the hen fever two local 
breeds had arisen, probably by accident. These were the Jersey 
Blue and the Bucks County Fowl, both of which continued 
down to our own time but never became popular. At the first 

exhibition in Boston a class had 
been provided for crossbred 
fowls, and in this was shown a 
new variety called the Plymouth 
Rock. From the descriptions of 
these birds now in existence 
it appears that they looked 
much like the modern Partridge 
Plymouth Rock. Those who 
brought them out hoped that 
they would meet the popular 
demand, and for a short time 
it seemed that this hope might 
be realized, but interest in them 
soon waned, and in a few years 
they were almost forgotten. 
In the light of the history of American breeds which did 
afterwards become popular we can see now that the ideas of the 
masses of American poultry keepers were not as strictly practi- 
cal as their objections to the various foreign breeds appeared to 
show. The three varieties that have just been mentioned, and 
many others arising from time to time, met all the expressed re- 
quirements of the practical poultry keeper quite as well as those 
which subsequently caught his fancy. Indeed, as will be shown 
farther on, some of the productions of this period, after being 
neglected for a long time, finally became very popular. Usually 
this happened when their color became fashionable. 




Fig. 45. White Plymouth Rock hen 

(Photograph from C. E. Hodgkins, 

Northampton, Massachusetts) 



FOWLS 



57 



The modern Barred Plymouth Rock. Shortly after our Civil 
War two poultrymen in Connecticut — one a fancier, the other a 
farmer — engaged in a joint effort to produce the business type of 
fowl that would meet the favor of American farmers. A male 
of the old Dominique type was crossed with some Black Cochin 
hens. This mating produced some chickens having the color of 
the sire, but larger and more robust. Another and more skillful 
fancier saw these 
chickens and per- 
suaded the farmer 
to sell him a few of 
the best. A few 
years later, when, 
by careful breeding 
and selection, he 
had fixed the type 
and had specimens 
enough to supply 
eggs to other fan- 
ciers, he took some 
of his new breed to a 
show at Worcester, 
Massachusetts. Up 
to this time he had 
not thought of a name for them, but as people who saw them 
would want to know what they were called, a name was now 
necessary. It occurred to this man that the name " Plymouth 
Rock," having once been given to a promising American 
breed, would be appropriate. So the birds were exhibited as 
Plymouth Rocks. 

This new breed caught the popular fancy at once, for it had 
the color which throughout this country was supposed always 
to be associated with exceptional vigor and productiveness, and 
it had greater size than the Dominique. The fame of the new 







fcki 


-s 


-,**• 











Fig. 46. Buff Plymouth Rock cock 



58 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



breed spread rapidly. It was impossible to supply the demand 
from the original stock, and, as there is usually more than one 
way of producing a type by crossing, good imitations of the 
original were soon abundant. Farmers and market poultrymen 
by thousands took up the Plymouth Rock, while all over the 
land fanciers were trying to perfect the color which their critical 

taste found very poor. 

Other varieties of the Plym- 
outh Rock. The success of the 
Plymouth Rock gave fresh im- 
petus to efforts to make new 
breeds and varieties of the same 
general character. Great as was 
its popularity, the new breed did 
not suit all. Some did not like 
the color ; some objected to the 
single comb, thinking that a rose 
comb or a pea comb had advan- 
tages ; some preferred a shorter, 
blockier body; others wanted a 
larger, longer body. The off- 
colored birds which new races 




Fig. 47. 



Silver-Penciled Plymouth 
Rock hen 



usually produce in considerable numbers, even when the greater 
number come quite true, also suggested to some who obtained 
them new varieties of the Plymouth Rock, while to others it 
seemed better policy to give them new names and exploit them 
as new and distinct breeds. 

Both black and white specimens came often in the early flocks 
of Barred Plymouth Rocks. The black ones were developed as 
a distinct breed, called the Black Java. The white ones, after 
going for a while under various names, and after strong oppo- 
sition from those who claimed that the name " Plymouth Rock" 
belonged exclusively to birds of the color with which the name 
had become identified, finally secured recognition as White 



FOWLS 



59 




Fig. 48. Silver-Laced Wyandotte pullet. Photo- 
graphed in position showing lacing on back 



Plymouth Rocks. Almost immediately Buff Plymouth Rocks 
appeared. For reasons which will appear later, the origin 

of these will be given 
in another connection. 
Then came in rapid suc- 
cession" the Silver-Pen- 
ciled, the Partridge, or 
Golden- Penciled (which, 
as has been said, is 
probably quite a close 
duplicate of the type to 
which the name " Plym- 
outh Rock " was origi- 
nally given), and the Columbian, or Ermine, Plymouth Rock. 
These were all of the general type of the Barred variety, but 
because in most cases they 
were made by different 
combinations, and because 
fanciers are much more par- 
ticular to breed for color 
than to breed for typical 
form, the several varieties 
of the Plymouth Rock are 
slightly different in form. 

The Wyandottes. Closely 
following the appearance of 
the Barred Plymouth Rock 
came the Silver-Laced Wy- 
andotte, called at first sim- 
ply the Wyandotte. The 
original type was quite dif- 
ferent in color from the 

modern tvpe. It had on each -. c , T , w , „ 

J * Fig. 49. Silver- Laced Wyandotte 

feather a small white center cockerel 




6o 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



surrounded by a heavy black lacing. This has been gradually 
changed until now the white center is large and the black edging 
narrow. At first some of these Wyandottes had rose combs and 
some had single combs. The rose comb was preferred and the 
single-combed birds were discarded as culls. 

Strange as it seems in the case of an event so recent, no one 
knows where the first Wyandottes came from. It is supposed that 

they were one of the many 
varieties developed either by 
chance or in an effort to meet 
the demand for a general- 
purpose fowl. They appear 
to have come into the hands 
of those who first exploited 
them in some way that left 
no trace of their source. 
They went under several 
different names until 1883, 
when the name ' ' Wyandotte 
was given them as an appro- 
priate and euphonious name 
for an American breed. 

Next appeared a Golden- 
Laced Wyandotte, marked 
like the Silver- Laced variety 
but having golden bay where 
that had white. This variety 
was developed from an earlier 
variety of unknown origin, known in Southern Wisconsin and 
Northern Illinois (about 1870 and earlier) under the name of 
" Winnebago." 

The Silver- Laced Wyandottes, like the Barred Plymouth Rocks, 
produced some black and some white specimens. From these were 
made the Black Wyandottes and the White Wyandottes. Then 




Fig. 50. White Wyandotte cockerel 
(Photograph from W. E. Mack, Wood- 
stock, Vermont) 



FOWLS 



61 




Fig. 51. Siver-Penciled Wyandotte cock 

erel. (Photograph from James S. Wason 

Grand Rapids, Michigan) 

The Rhode Island Red. Amon 
developed in America was a 
red fowl which soon became 
the prevalent type in the egg- 
farming section of Rhode Island 
and quite popular in the adjacent 
part of Massachusetts. Most of 
the stock of this race was pro- 
duced by a continuous process 
of grading and crossing which 
was systematic only in that it 
was the common practice to pre- 
serve none but the red males 
after introducing a cross of an- 
other color. A few breeders in 
the district bred their flocks 
more carefully than others, but 
really thoroughbred until after it 



came the Buff Wyandottes 
(from the same original 
source as the Buff Plymouth 
Rocks), and after them Par- 
tridge Wyandottes, Silver- 
Penciled Wyandottes, and 
Columbian, or Ermine, Wy- 
andottes. From the three 
last-named varieties came 
the Plymouth Rock varieties 
of the corresponding colors, 
the first stocks of these be- 
ing the single-combed speci- 
mens from the flocks of 
breeders of these varieties 
of Wyandottes. 
g the earliest of the local types 




Fig. 52. Partridge Wyandotte pullet 

the race as a whole was not 
became more widely popular. 



62 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Although the formation of this race began about 1850 (per- 
haps earlier), it was fifty years before it became known outside 
of the limited area in which it was almost the only type to be seen. 
Indeed, the first birds of this race to attract the attention of 
the public were exhibited about 1890 as Buff Plymouth Rocks 
and Buff Wyandottes. At that time very few of the Rhode 
Island Reds were as dark in color as the average specimen 

now seen in the showroom, 
and buff specimens were 
numerous. Birds with rose 
combs, birds with single 
combs, birds with pea combs, 
and birds with intermediate 
types of comb could often 
be found in the same flock. 
So it was not a very difficult 
matter, among many thou- 
sands of birds, to pick out 
some that would pass for 
Buff Plymouth Rocks and 
some that would pass for 
Buff Wyandottes. These 
varieties were also made in 
other ways, mostly by vari- 
ous crosses with the Buff Cochin, but for some years breeders 
continued to draw on the Rhode Island supply. 

Some people in the Rhode Island district thought that a 
breed which could thus furnish the foundation for varieties of 
two other breeds ought to win popularity on its own merits. So 
they began to exhibit and advertise Rhode Island Reds. At first 
they made little progress, but as the breed improved, many 
more people became interested in it, and soon it was one of the 
most popular breeds in the country. The modern exhibition 
Rhode Island Red is of a dark brownish red in color. 

















- • . s 






■ 


' \ JH 




w 






JW 









Fig. 53. Columbian Wyandottes. (Photo- 
graph from R. G. Richardson, Lowell, 
Massachusetts) 



FOWLS 63 

The American idea in England ; the Orpington. At the time 
that the Chinese fowls were attracting wide attention in America 
and England some were taken to other countries of Europe. In 
almost every country they had some influence upon the native 
stock, but as each of the old countries had one or more improved 
races that suited most of those giving special attention to poultry 
culture, the influence of the Asiatics was less marked than in 
our country. 

When the Plymouth Rock and the Wyandotte became popu- 
lar in America, they were taken to England, where, in spite of 
the preference for white skin and flesh-colored legs, they were 
soon in such favor that a shrewd English breeder saw the ad- 
vantage of making another breed of the same general type but 
with skin and legs of the colors preferred in England. He 
called his new breed the Orpington, giving it the name of the 
town in which he lived. The first Orpingtons were black and 
were made by crossing the black progeny of Plymouth Rocks 
(which in America had been used to make the Black Java), 
Black Minorcas, and Black Langshans. Then the originator of 
the Orpingtons put out a buff variety, which he claimed was 
made by another particular combination of crosses, but which 
others said was only an improvement of a local breed known as 
the Lincolnshire Buff. Later White Orpingtons and Spangled 
Orpingtons appeared. 

Present distribution of improved races. Having briefly traced 
the distribution of the fowl in ancient times, and the movements 
which in modern times brought long-separated branches of the 
species together, let us look at the present situation. 

The Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, and 
Orpingtons, which are essentially one type, the differences be- 
tween them being superficial, constitute the greater part of the 
improved fowls of Amercia and England and are favorites with 
progressive poultry keepers in many other lands. In many parts 
of this country one rarely sees a fowl that is not of this type, 



6 4 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



either of one of the breeds named or a grade of the same type. 
After the general-purpose type, the laying type, which includes 
the Italian, Spanish, German, and Dutch races, is the most 
popular, but in this type popularity is limited in most places to 
the Leghorns and to a few breeds which, though classed as 
distinct breeds, are essentially the same. The Ancona is really 
a Leghorn, and the Andalusian, although it comes from Spain, 

is, like other races in 
that land, distinctly of 
the same type as the 
fowls of Italy. 

With the growth of 
a general-purpose class, 
interest in the Asiatic 
fowls rapidly declined. 
They are now kept prin- 
cipally by fanciers and by 
market poultry growers 
who produce extra large 
fowls for the table. 

Deformed and dwarf 
races. Although some 
of the races of fowls 
that have been consid- 
ered have odd characters 
which, when greatly ex- 
aggerated, are detrimental and bring the race to decay, such 
characters as large combs, crests, feathered legs, and the pecul- 
iar development of the face in the Black Spanish fowl, when 
moderately developed, do not seriously affect the usefulness of 
fowls possessing them. With a little extra care they usually 
do as well as fowls of corresponding plain types. Poultry 
keepers who admire such decorations and keep only a few birds 
do not find the extra care that they require burdensome, and 



, 


. 






1 

• ■■■■;:■; r 


, ,■,.' 














f"f *!? 


' . *' 


w 








■ti^, - W 






'" 


- #*** 


-^"Xy- " ■ \ J?>% 


. ' 



Fig. 54. Single-Combed Buff Orpington cock 

(Photograph from Miss Henrietta E. Hooker, 

South Hadley, Massachusetts) 



FOWLS 



65 



consequently all these races have become well established and 
at times popular. It is notable that in all fowls of this class 
the odd character is added to the others or is an exaggeration 
of a regular character. There are two other classes of odd types 
of fowls. The first of these is made up of a small group of 
varieties defective in one character ; the second comprises the 
dwarf varieties, most of which are miniatures of larger varieties. 

Silky fowls. In all races of fowls individuals sometimes ap- 
pear in which the web of the feathers is of a peculiar formation, 
resembling hair. Such fowls 
are called silkies. They are 
occasionally exhibited as curi- 
osities but are not often bred 
to reproduce this character. 
There is one distinct race of 
white fowls, so small that it is 
usually classed as a bantam, 
having feathers of this kind. 

Frizzled fowls. The feathers 
of a fowl are sometimes curled 
at the tips, like the short curls 
in the feathers which indicate 
the sex of a drake. Such birds 
are called frizzles or frizzled 
fowls. True frizzles, like true 
silkies from races having nor- 
mal plumage, are very rare. Many of the fowls exhibited at 
poultry shows as Frizzles are ordinary birds the feathers of 
which have been curled artificially. 

Rumpless fowls. The tail feathers of a fowl are borne on a 
fleshy protuberance at the lower end of the spine. It some- 
times happens that one or more of the lower vertebrae are 
missing. In that case the fowl has no tail and the feathers on 
the back, which in a normal fowl divide and hang down at each 




Fig. 55. Single-Combed White Or- 
pington hen. (Photograph from 
Bureau of Animal Industry, United 
States Department of Agriculture) 



66 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



side, fall smoothly all around. True rumpless fowls are rare. 
Many of the specimens exhibited are birds from which the 
rump was removed when they were very young. 

Bantams. Dwarf, or bantam, fowls, on account of their dimin- 
utive size and pert ways, are especially attractive to children. 
Breeding them to secure the minimum size, the desired type, 
and fine quality in plumage color has the same fascination for a 
fancier as the breeding of large fowls, and as the small birds are 
better adapted to small spaces, fanciers who have little room 

often devote themselves to 
the breeding of bantams. 
The larger and hardier va- 
rieties of bantams are good 
for eggs and poultry for 
home use, but are not often 
kept primarily for these 
products. Most people who 
keep bantams keep only a 
few for pleasure, and the 
eggs and poultry they fur- 
nish are but a small part of 
what the family consumes. 
Bantam keepers who have 
a surplus of such products 
can usually find customers in their own neighborhood. The 
very small bantams and the very rare varieties are usually deli- 
cate and so hard to rear that amateurs who try them soon be- 
come discouraged and either give up bantams or take one of 
the hardy kinds. It is better to begin with one of the popular 
varieties, which are as interesting as any and, on the whole, are 
the most satisfactory. 

Origin of bantams. After the explanation of the origin of 
varieties given in Chapter III, and the description of the evo- 
lution of the different races of fowls in the present chapter, it 




Fig. 56. White Cochin Bantam cockerel 



FOWLS 



67 



is perhaps not really necessary to tell how dwarf races of fowls 
originated ; but the belief that such races were unknown until 
brought to Europe from the city of Bantam, in the Island 
of Java, is so widespread that it can do no harm to give the 
facts which disprove this and in doing so to show again how 
easily artificial varieties are made by skillful poultry fanciers. 




Fig. 57. Bantams make good pets 

As has been stated, people who do not understand the close 
relations of the different races of fowls, and do not know how 
quickly new types may be established by careful breeding, attach 
a great deal of importance, to purity of breed. Hence, unscrupu- 
lous promoters of new breeds have often claimed that they re- 
ceived their original stock direct from some remote place or from 
some one who had long bred it pure. The idea of assigning the 



68 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 58. Black-Tailed White Japanese Bantams 
(Photograph from Frederick W. Otte, Peek- 
skill, New York) 



town of Bantam as the 
home of a true species 
of dwarf domestic fowl 
seems to have occurred 
to some one in England 
more than a hundred 
years ago, and to have 
been suggested because 
of the resemblance of 
the name of this Asiatic 
city to the English word 
"banty," the popular 
name for a dwarf fowl. 
It seems strange that 
such a fiction should be 
accepted as accounting 
but it was published by 



for dwarf varieties of European races 

some of the early writers, used by lexicog- 
raphers, and, having found a place in the 

dictionaries, was accepted as authoritative by 

the majority of later writers on poultry, even 

after some of the highest authorities had 

shown conclusively that this view of the 
origin of dwarf races 
was erroneous. 

No evidence of the 
existence of a dwarf 
race of fowls in Java 
has ever been produced. The Chinese and 
Japanese bantams did not come to Europe 
and America until long after the name 
"bantam" came into use. Dwarfs occur 
and undoubtedly have occurred frequently 
Bantam cock in every race of fowls. Usually they are 





Fig. 59. White Polish 
Bantam hen 



FOWLS 



69 





Fig. 61. Black Co- 
chin Bantam pullet 1 



Fig. 62. Black Cochin 
Bantam cockerel 1 



unsymmetrical and weakly, and are called runts and put out of 
the way as soon as possible. But occasionally an undersized 
individual is finely formed, active, and hardy. By mating such 
a specimen with the smallest specimen of the other sex that 
can be found (even though the latter is 
much larger), and by 
repeated selection of 
the smallest speci- 
mens, a dwarf race 
may be obtained. It 
could be made, though 
not so rapidly, by sys- 
tematic selection of 
the smallest ordinary 
specimens and by keeping the growing chicks so short of food 
that they would be stunted. The latter process, however, is so 
tedious that no one is likely to adopt it. Usually the idea of 
making a new variety of bantams does not occur to a breeder 

until he sees a good 
dwarf specimen of 
a race of which 
there is no dwarf 
variety. Then, if 
he undertakes to 
make such a vari- 
ety, he is likely to 

,1 Fig. 64. Rose-Comb 

use in the process „, , * , _ 

1 Black Bantam hen - 





Fig. 63. Rose-Comb Black 
Bantam cock 



both small speci- 
mens of large races and birds of long-established dwarf races. 
Dwarf types of most of the popular breeds have been made 
here and exhibited, but the originators were given very little 
encouragement to perfect them. 



1 Photograph from Dr. J. N. MacRae, Gait, Ontario. 

2 Photograph from Grove Hill Poultry Yards, Waltham, Massachusetts. 



7° 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 





Fig. 65. Silver Sebright 
Bantam cockerel 



Fig. 66. Silver Sebright Ban- 
tam pullet 



Varieties of bantams. The most popular bantams in this 
country to-day are the Cochin Bantams, formerly called Pekin 

Bantams because the first that were seen 

in Europe and America had come from 

Peking. Only 

the self-colored 

varieties — buff, 

black, and white 

— are natives 

of China. The 

Partridge vari- 
ety was made in 

England, where there are several other color varieties not known 
in this country. The Common Game Bantam is a dwarf Pit 

Game fowl ; the Exhibition Game 
Bantam is a dwarf type resembling 
the Exhibition Game, developed from 
the Common Game Bantam. Rose- 
Comb Black and Rose-Comb White 
Bantams are diminutive Hamburg 
fowls; Polish Bantams are diminu- 
tive Polish. The Sebright Bantams 
are of the 
same gen- 

FlG. 67. Dark Brahma Bantam eraltypeas 
cockerel ^ Ro§e _ 

Combs, but in color they are laced 
like the large varieties of Polish, not 
spangled like the party-colored Ham- 
burgs. They are further distin- 
guished by being "hen-tailed," that 

is, the males having tails like hens. 

. Fig. 68. Light Brahma Bantam 

Sebright Bantams were made in hen with brood 1 

1 Photograph from Brook View Farm. Newbury, Massachusetts. 





FOWLS 71 

England about a hundred years ago, by Sir John Sebright, for 
whom they were named. Although the large Brahmas and 
Cochins are originally of the same stock, no bantams of the 
colors of the Brahmas have come from China. The Light and 
Dark Brahma Bantams were made in England and America 
in very recent times. From Japan has come a peculiar type of 
bantam with very short legs, a large tail carried very high, and 
a large single comb. In their native country the Japanese Ban- 
tams are not separated into distinct color varieties. In England 
and America there are black, white, gray, black-tailed white, 
and buff varieties. 



CHAPTER V 

MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 

The methods of managing fowls vary according to the con- 
ditions under which they are kept and the time that the keeper 
can give them. Fowls ought to have an outdoor run, and it is 
desirable that this should be large enough to be kept in sod; 
but very few people in towns can give their fowls grass yards, 
and the advantages of an outdoor run will not in themselves 
compensate for neglect in other matters. Hence we often see 
fowls under poor conditions, with good care, doing better than 
fowls, in a much more favorable environment, that are given 
indifferent care. No absolute rules for keeping fowls under any 
given conditions can be made. In general, small flocks of fowls 
that have free range or large, grassy yards need very little atten- 
tion, while those that are closely confined require a great deal. 

With good care the egg production of fowls in close confine- 
ment is often better than that from fowls at liberty, but if 
the cost of caring for the fowls is computed at current rates 
for common labor, the rate of compensation is often higher on 
fowls running at large than on fowls in confinement which are 
producing many more eggs. The question of profits from ama- 
teur poultry keeping, however, should not be considered solely 
with reference to the compensation for time used, nor should such 
work be adjusted wholly with reference to economic results, for it 
combines recreation, education, and money compensation, and the 
first two results should have as much consideration as the last. 

In this chapter the methods adapted to small flocks are first 
described for the instruction of the pupil, and then descriptions 
of operations on a larger scale are given for his information. 

72 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



73 



Small Flocks on Town Lots 

Numbers in flocks. The average number of fowls kept by a 
town family for its own use is about one dozen. Very few who 
keep hens have less than half a dozen, and not many who plan 
only to supply their own tables have more than a dozen and a 
half. Six fowls, if well cared for, will produce all the eggs used 
by an average family of two or three persons during the greater 
part of the year. 

Houses and yards. For a dozen medium-sized fowls the 
house should be about 8 ft. X 8 ft. on the ground, with the highest 
point of the roof 
about 6 or 7 feet 
from the floor. The 
general rule is to 
make the poultry 
house face the sun, 
and have the win- 
dows and the outside 
doors in or near the 
front. The object 
of this is to get as 
much sunlight in 
the house as possible 

in winter, when the sun is low, and to have the walls tight that 
are exposed to the prevailing cold winds. In the Northern 
Hemisphere the front of the house is toward the south ; in 
the Southern Hemisphere it is toward the north. In tropical 
and subtropical countries houses are often so constructed that 
they can be kept open on all sides in summer and closed 
tightly, except in front, during cool weather. 

If the land on which a house stands is sandy and well drained, 
the floor may be of earth. The common practice where earth 
floors are used is to fill the earth level with the top of the sill 




Fig. 69. Small house used for fowls and pigeons 



74 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



and renew it once a year by removing the soil that has become 
mixed with droppings of the fowls and putting in fresh earth. 
When a house stands on wet land or on clay soil, it is better to 
have a floor of boards or of cement. 

Fowls may be confined to a house for a year or more and lay 
well and be in apparently good condition at the end of such a 
period, but as the chickens hatched from the eggs of fowls that 
have been so closely confined for even a few months are almost 




Fig. 70. An old-style small poultry house and yard 

invariably less vigorous than those produced from fowls that live 
a more natural life, this plan is not much used except by those 
who keep a few fowls for their eggs only and renew the stock by 
purchase as often as necessary. 

To give a flock of a dozen fowls outdoor air and exercise 
enough to keep them in good condition, a yard containing about 
300 sq. ft. is necessary. There is no perceptible advantage in 
giving more yard room than this, unless the yard can be made 
so large that grass will grow continuously in the greater part 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 75 

of it. On most soils this would require a yard containing from 
750 to 1000 sq. ft. in sod before being used for poultry. 

When fowls are confined to their houses, or to the houses and 
small yards, the droppings must be removed at frequent, regular 
intervals. To facilitate this it is customary to have a wide board, 
called the droppings board, under the roost at a distance of eight 
or ten inches. All the droppings made while the birds are on the 
roost fall on this board and are easily collected and removed. 



Fig. 71. Coop and shade for flock of Bantams 1 

It is a good plan to keep a supply of dry earth in a convenient 
place, and strew a little of this over the droppings board after 
each cleaning. Sifted coal ashes, land plaster, and dry sawdust 
are sometimes used instead of earth on the droppings boards. 
The droppings of fowls, when not mixed with other matter, 
are often salable for use in tanning leather, but in most cases 
the difference in their value for this purpose and for use as 

1 The coop is an old dry-goods box ; the shade is a burlap bag. Makeshift arrange- 
ments are not always nice looking, but some of the finest chickens are kept in very 
poor quarters. 



7 6 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 72. Neat house for six hens 



plant fertilizer is not great enough to pay for the extra trouble 

which is made by saving them for the tanners. Poultry manure 

is one of the most valuable 
fertilizers and can always be 
used to good advantage on 
lawns and gardens. 

If the floor is of wood or 
of cement, a thin layer of 
earth or sand spread upon it 
makes it more comfortable 
for the fowls. On all kinds 
of floors the modern practice 
is to use a few inches of litter 
of some kind. There is a 

great variety of materials that will serve this purpose. Lawn 

clippings raked up after they are dry, dried weeds and grass 

from the garden, leaves collected when dry and stored to be used 

as wanted, straw, hay, cornstalks cut into short lengths, and 

shavings, such as are sold 

baled for bedding horses and 

cattle, are all good. Fresh 

litter should be added in small 

quantities about once a week. 

About once a month the 

coarse litter on top should be 

raked aside, and the fine litter 

mixed with droppings under- 
neath removed. Once or 

twice a year all the material 

should be taken out and a 

fresh start made. 

When kept in a house having an earth floor, fowls will scratch 

aside the litter from small spaces and wallow and dust themselves. 

In houses having hard floors, shallow boxes about 2 ft. square, 




Fig. jt,. House for a dozen fowls. 

Floor, 8 ft. x 8 ft. ; height at sides, 4 ft. ; 

height in middle, 7 ft. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



77 



containing several inches of dry earth, are placed for the birds' 
dust baths. Fresh earth must be provided frequently or they 
will not use the bath as freely as is desirable. For use in 
winter the earth must be so dry that it will not freeze, but the 
birds prefer earth that is slightly moist. The first function of 
the dust bath is to clean the feathers, and damp earth does 
this much better than earth that is very dry. In wallowing to 
clean their plumage fowls also rid themselves of lice. When 
it is not convenient 
to store much earth, 
the same material 
may do double serv- 
ice — first in the 
dust bath, then on 
the droppings board. 

In a bare yard 
the soil should be 
turned over often, 
all the matter that 
can be raked up 
with a fine rake hav- 
ing first been removed. A yard that is in grass requires little 
care except near the house, where the ground may be bare. 
Here it should be forked over occasionally. 

Feeding. The feeding of a small flock of fowls is a very 
simple process. The table and kitchen waste of an ordinary 
family will furnish all the soft food that they need, and usually 
enough green food to prevent their suffering for lack of such 
foods if no other provision is made for supplying them. This 
waste should not be carried from the house as it is made, and 
thrown on the ground for the fowls to pick out of the dirt. A 
better way is to provide a covered jar large enough to hold the 
accumulation of this material for a day. Into this may be put all 
the leavings from the table, except such things as orange and 







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Fig. 74. Small houses in back yard 



78 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

banana peelings, large bones, and pieces of fat meat. Once a 
day, at whatever time is most convenient, the contents of the 
jar should be mixed with as much corn meal and bran (equal 
parts by measure) as will take up the water in them and make 
a moist but not sloppy mash. This should be fed in a clean 
trough. If the trough stands high enough from the floor to 
keep the contents clean, it will do no harm if more food is given 
than the birds will eat up at once, but the quantity given should 
never be so great that it will not be eaten before the next feed- 
ing time. 

Most people find the morning the most convenient time to 
give the mash. If the mash is fed in the morning, a small feed 
of hard grain should be given about noon, and a more liberal 
one an hour or two before sunset. Some poultry keepers feed 
the different grains separately ; others mix them before feeding. 
Advocates of different practices often imagine advantages for 
that which they favor, but no advantage can be demonstrated 
for either. Wheat and cracked corn are the grains most used 
in this country ; they are about equal in feeding value. As 
corn is nearly always cheaper than wheat, the usual practice is 
to feed about twice as much corn. When the grains are mixed, 
one part (by measure) of wheat is used to two parts of cracked 
corn. When they are fed separately, it is usual to feed the 
wheat at noon, as the light feed, and the corn in the evening, as 
the heavy feed. All the common grains except rye make good 
poultry foods. Why fowls do not like rye is one of the puzzles 
of poultry keeping. In some countries it is used for poultry 
to a greater extent than in the United States, and fowls forced 
to eat it here have done very well for short periods, but will 
not eat it readily if they are accustomed to other grains and can 
get enough to sustain life without it. Fowls do not like dry oats 
so well as corn and wheat, but have not such a dislike for them 
as for rye. They are very fond of oats soaked in water and 
partly sprouted. 




Fig. 75. With curtains closed 




Fig. j6. With one curtain open 





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Fig. 77. As an open- 



POULTRY HOUSE USED AT THE CENTRAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 

OTTAWA, CANADA 

(Photograph from the station) 

79 



So OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

The quantity of grain to be given any flock of fowls must be 
determined by trial and observation. The grain should not be 
fed in troughs from which the birds can eat it very quickly, 
but scattered in the litter on the floor, so that the fowls will 
take exercise scratching it out, and eat slowly. There is an ad- 
vantage in giving some soft and quickly digested food, but if 
too much of the food can be eaten quickly, the birds do not 
take exercise enough. When there is grass in the poultry yard, 
it is a good plan to scatter the grain in the grass sometimes 




Fig. 78. Flock of Barred Plymouth Rocks 

in fine weather. The hens will find it all, and in scratching it 
out will bring up the dead grass, and a better sod will grow 
afterward. 

A dozen medium-sized fowls, if fed in the morning with the 
mash described above, would probably need a little over a pint 
of grain in the middle of the day and about a quart toward even- 
ing. An experienced feeder can usually tell by the eagerness 
of the fowls for their food whether to increase or diminish the 
quantity ; but the most expert poultry keeper does not rely 
upon this kind of observation alone. Occasionally, before giv- 
ing food, he looks in the litter to see if there is grain left 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



81 



there from previous feedings, and if he finds much, gives no 
more until the birds have eaten this all up clean. 

Water should be given as often as is necessary to keep the 
supply quite fresh. In cool (but not freezing) weather, once a 
day is usually sufficient. In hot weather the water should be 
fresh two or three times a day, in order that the birds may 
have cool drinks. In freezing weather many poultry keepers 
give the water warm, because then it does not freeze so 
quickly. The advantage of this is very slight, and wattles that 




Fig. 79. Flock of Single-Comb White Leghorns 

are wet with warm water in extreme cold weather become espe- 
cially susceptible to frost. It is not really necessary to give 
fowls water when they can get snow or ice in a form in which 
they can eat it. 

Hens that are laying must be well supplied with oyster shells 
or lime in some form for the shells of the eggs. They can get 
a part of the lime required for this purpose from the lime in 
foodstuffs, but not nearly enough to make good thick shells for 
all their eggs when they are laying well. Ground oyster shells 
are sold by all dealers in poultry supplies. 



82 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Growing chickens. Where old fowls have to be kept in close 
confinement, very little can be done in growing chickens. Some 
amateur poultry keepers raise in small, bare yards birds that are 
as good as the average chickens grown under more favorable 
conditions, but where one succeeds in doing this a hundred 
fail. Most of the chickens grown in close quarters are very 




Fig. 80. White Wyandotte hen and chicks 

poor indeed in comparison with farm-grown chickens, and 
quite unfit to be kept for laying or breeding purposes. Those 
who succeed in growing good chickens in a small place usually 
give a great deal more time to the work than the chickens pro- 
duced are worth. The best way for a poultry keeper so situated 
to get as much as possible of the pleasure of this interesting 
line of work is to hatch a few broods and, when the chicks are 
large enough, broil, eat, or sell all but a few of the best pullets 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 83 

and one or two cockerels. If these thrive, they may be worth 
keeping for a year ; but if, as they mature, they do not seem 
rugged, it is not wise to use them for laying stock. 

Where there is room to give young chickens a good grass 
yard, a limited number can be grown to maturity year after year 
on a town lot and used for laying and breeding* purposes. Many 
town poultry keepers who might grow a few very good chickens 
never grow a good one because they always try to raise too many 
for the space at their disposal. Fifty or a hundred chickens may 
be kept until two months old on a plot of land only large enough 
to carry twelve or fifteen to maturity. So people start out with 
a great many more chickens than they ought to have on their 
land, never thinking that the better their chickens do at the 
start the sooner they will begin to overcrowd their quarters, and 
that when that stage is reached, the promising results of several 
months' work may in a few days be ruined beyond remedy. 
After they are two or three months old, young chickens will not 
make the best growth of which they are capable unless they 
have either a great deal of room or a great deal more care than 
most people who raise only a few, and have other work to do, 
can afford to give them. 

Small Flocks on Ordinary Farms 

Numbers in flocks. The ordinary farm flock consists of from 
fifty to one hundred adult fowls and, during the growing sea- 
son, from one hundred to two hundred chickens. The old 
stock is usually kept in one or more small houses located among 
the other outbuildings, and all run together during the day. If 
the farmer wants to keep the fowls out of the dooryard and the 
kitchen garden, he does not make yards for the fowls, but in- 
closes the dooryard and garden. Outside of these the birds 
go where they please. The coops for the young chickens are 
often kept in the dooryard or the garden until the chickens 



84 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



are weaned, but after that the young birds are nearly always 
turned out to take their chances with the old ones. 

Under such conditions a farm flock is not often very pro- 
ductive, yet, as the birds secure a large part of their food by 
foraging, the flock may be more profitable than a more produc- 
tive flock for which all food is bought and upon which a great 
deal of labor is expended. While this way of keeping fowls on 
farms is not in itself commendable, it is not to be altogether 



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Fig. 8i. A small farm stock of fowls, ducks, and turkeys 

condemned, because circumstances often compel the farmer to 
treat his fowls as a sort of volunteer or self-producing crop. 
The conditions on a farm admit of this, and as a matter of fact 
the greater part of our enormous total production of eggs and 
poultry comes from the half-neglected flocks on the ordinary 
farms. Hence the conditions are tolerable where they are neces- 
sary, but whenever it is possible to give farm fowls enough at- 
tention to obviate the faults of common practice, the product and 
the profits can be greatly increased with very little increase in the 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



5 



cost of production. In this section we consider the best methods 
of securing this result when all the old stock is to be kept as one 
flock. Old stock and young ought always to be separated unless 
the old birds constitute an insignificant portion of the flock. 

Single houses for farm flocks. It is as true on a farm as else- 
where that the greatest yields of eggs and the best growth in 
young birds are secured when the flock is divided into small 
groups. But a farm flock of the class under consideration, 
while it makes its headquarters in such buildings as may be 




Fig. 82. Good poultry house on Texas farm. (Photograph from Bureau of 
Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

provided, will forage a considerable distance in every direction, 
going among growing crops from which the larger farm ani- 
mals must be excluded, and also following the larger animals in 
their stables, yards, and pastures and picking up food left by 
them. As fowls also eat many weeds and seeds of weeds, 
and all kinds of destructive insects, the advantages of letting 
them run at large more than make up for lower production. 
Also the production is normal and can be easily maintained 
from year to year in the same line of stock, while high pro- 
duction secured by extra care is forced and can be maintained 



86 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



in the same line of stoc-k for only a few generations. A flock 
of one hundred fowls or less, that run together, may all be kept 
in one house just as well as in several, if the size of the house 
and the equipment are in proportion to the size of the flock. 

If the snow lies long on the ground, so that the fowls are 
confined to the house much of the time in winter, the allow- 
ance of floor space should be about 5 sq. ft. per bird. Where 




Fig. 83. Rude poultry house on a Kansas farm. (Photograph from Bureau of 
Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 



the snow rarely lies more than a day or two at a time, less space 
may be given, because the birds will not occupy the house much 
of the time during the day. Under such conditions the allow- 
ance of floor space may be as low as 3 sq. ft. per bird. Those 
who go to this limit, however, should consider, that, in the 
unusual case of a snowstorm keeping the hens confined to the 
house for more than a very few days, overcrowding may cause 
losses that more than offset what was gained by using the 
highest capacity of the house. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



87 



Usually a flock of fifty hens needs a house with a floor surface 
of about 250 sq.ft. This is obtained in a house 16 ft. square 
or in a house 12 ft. x 24 ft. A house 20 ft. square is about right 
for seventy-five or eighty hens, and is not badly overcrowded if 
one hundred medium-sized birds are put into it. If an oblong 
building is preferred, a house 12 ft. wide by 42 ft. long gives 
one hundred birds 5 sq. ft. of floor space per bird. Houses of 




Fig. 84. Good poultry house on a Kansas farm. (Photograph from Bureau of 
Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

such size should be from 4 ft. to 7 ft. high at the sides, and 
from 7 ft. to 10 ft. high at the highest point of the roof, 
according to the style of construction. 

Feeding. In the feeding of a farm flock the first thing to 
consider is what the birds can pick up by foraging. The 
poultry keeper on a farm, even more than the poultry keeper 
elsewhere, should make it a rule to do nothing for poultry that 
they can do for themselves. Fowls can do more for themselves 



88 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

at some seasons than at others, because natural food is more 
abundant. As fowls do not usually go very far from their house, 
the larger the flock the less food each bird will secure. On some 
farms quite a large flock of fowls can get all the food they 
need about the barns and stockyards and in orchards and fields 
near the homestead. 

When the conditions are such that it may reasonably be sup- 
posed that the fowls can get all the food they require without 




Fig. 85. Poultry house at Mississippi Agricultural College. 1 (Photograph 
from the college) 

going farther than fowls usually wander, the best way to deter- 
mine whether this supposition is correct is to give them no food 
until evening, then throw out a little grain and see how much 
they will eat. If it appears that they need to be fed a consider- 
able quantity, it is better to give a light feed in the morning and 
another in the evening than to give a heavy feed once a day, 
because if they learn to expect a full feed at a regular time, they 
will not forage so well. Fowls that have an opportunity to secure 
considerable food by foraging should never be fed so much in 

1 In this house the part of the rear wall above the roost platform is made to open 
wide, thus affording perfect ventilation in summer. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



89 



the morning that they will sit around for hours. When hens on 
a farm need only one or two light feeds a day, whatever grain 
is most convenient may be given them. Where they get so 
much exercise and a good variety of other foods, whole corn is 
as good as anything. A good way to feed it is to break the ears 
into short pieces and let the birds pick the grain from the cob. 

In winter the feeding of the farm flock should have more 
attention, especially if little food can be secured around the 
stables and stockyards. It is a good plan to give, once a day, 
a warm mash made of 1 part 
(by measure) of corn meal and 
2 parts of bran, and to give 
as much grain at one other 
feeding as the hens will eat. 
Some farmers use sheaf oats 
for litter in the floors of their 
poultry houses, throwing in a 
sheaf or two as often as is nec- 
essary to keep a good depth 
of litter on the floor, and then 
give as much corn in addition 
as the hens will eat readily. 

If it is not convenient to make a mash, what grain the fowls 
will eat quickly from a trough may be prepared for a warm 
breakfast for them by pouring boiling water on it in the eve- 
ning and letting it soak overnight. Any of the small grains and 
cracked corn may be fed in this way ; whole corn needs longer 
soaking. In hard, freezing weather no more mash or soaked 
grain should be given than the fowls will eat before it can freeze. 
A favorite old-time practice still used on many farms is to heat 
shelled corn in the oven and feed it while warm. 

The best vegetable foods for fowls in winter are cabbages and 
mangel-wurzels. The cabbages can be hung up by the roots and 
the fowls will eat all but the stump. The most convenient way 




Fig. 86. Open-front house with hood 
(Photograph from Department of Agri- 
culture, Victoria, British Columbia) 



90 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

to feed the beets is to split them and impale the pieces on spikes 
in the wall at a convenient distance from the floor. Sound, 
sweet turnips are also good, but bitter turnips and those that 
have begun to spoil are likely to give an unpleasant flavor to 
the eggs. A little freezing does not seem to affect the value of 
these vegetables for poultry food, and the birds will usually eat 
them when frozen. The quantity fed at one time, however, 



Fig. 87. Movable poultry house on United States Government farm, Beltsville, 
Maryland. (Photograph from Bureau of Animal Industry) 

should not be so large that it may freeze and thaw several 
times before it is all eaten. 

When hogs and cattle are killed on a farm, the blood and 
other offal, and the small trimmings when the carcasses are 
cut up, should be saved and fed to the fowls regularly in mod- 
erate quantities, but care should be taken not to leave fat 
trimmings where the fowls can help themselves, for if fowls 
have been short of animal food, they eat meat very greedily 




Fig. 88. The upper shutter is closed only at night in extreme cold weather 




Fig. 89. Lower part of front open for hot weather 

ANOTHER STYLE OF MOVABLE HOUSE AT THE UNITED STATES 

GOVERNMENT FARM, BELTSVILLE, MARYLAND 

(Photograph from Bureau of Animal Industry) 



9i 



9 2 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



and are often made sick by it. Blood and lean meat are not 
very injurious, but too much fat meat has very bad effects. 

It is not necessary to give the fowls water when there is 
snow on the ground. Delicate fowls that are accustomed to 
close confinement may not be able to stand running out on the 
snow, but if they have a comfortable house, with a good supply 
of litter on the floor, and are free to go and come at will, rugged 
birds that are out in all kinds of weather are not in the least 

hurt by going out on 
snow and ice and wet 
ground in cold weather, 
and will usually take 
snow in preference to 
water when they can get 
it. When the ground is 
bare and frozen, water or 
finely chipped ice should 
be supplied. In extreme 
cold weather the latter is 
better, because the water 
soon freezes and the fowls 
go thirsty until a fresh 
supply is given them. 
Reproducing the flock. Fowls are short-lived creatures. They 
mature in less than a year; their period of greatest productive- 
ness is usually over before they are two years old, and only a very 
small proportion of a flock are worth keeping after that. Hence 
the entire stock of fowls on a farm is renewed in two years. 
Most farmers intend to kill off all their two-year-old hens each 
year, thus keeping up the number in the flock by growing annu- 
ally about as many young birds as there are hens in the flock. 
To allow for losses, for an excess of males, and for inferior 
pullets which are not worth keeping for layers, it is necessary to 
hatch about four, times as many chickens as are to be reserved. 




Fig. 90. Barred Plymouth Rock hen with 
Light Brahma chicks 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 93 

The hatching season. Most of the chickens reared on farms 
are hatched in the spring months. The late-hatched chickens 
are nearly all from hens that steal their nests. People on farms 
do not want late chickens ; among so many larger ones a few 
small birds have very little chance to make good growth. But 
those who have a place to keep a few early chickens and time to 
take care of them often set a few hens in the winter. Eggs will 
hatch at any season of the year, and chickens will grow if they 
get proper care ; but there is a comparatively short season in the 
spring when eggs hatch better and chickens grow better than at 
any other time, and the easiest way to get a given number of good 
chickens that will be full-grown at the beginning of winter is 
to hatch them in this natural hatching season. This season can- 
not be exactly defined, because it varies according to latitude and 
also from year to year according to the weather. Perhaps the best 
general rule is to have the first chicks hatch when the grass is 
beginning to grow. To effect this the hens must be set three 
weeks earlier, when there may be no signs of spring. No one 
can time hatches to a natural phenomenon of this kind with 
certainty, but by planning with reference to the advance of spring 
in a normal season, the first hatches are usually brought very 
near to the desired time. 

Broody hens. When a hen wants to incubate eggs, or, as the 
common phrase is, to sit, she remains on her nest continuously 
and, unless very shy, will not leave it when approached and will 
resent any interference. The hen is then said to be broody. 
Because the broody hen makes a clucking noise, she is some- 
times called a clucking hen. Hens that are shy when they be- 
gin to cluck, and that fly from the nest when approached, usually 
become tame and allow themselves to be handled after a few 
days. Broody hens cannot always be obtained at the time they 
are wanted. In that case there is nothing to do but wait, or try 
to buy, hire, or borrow them. There is no way of forcing or 
inducing hens to become broody before they would do so of 



94 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

their own accord. When broody hens are hard to get, people 
think that hatching with incubators will relieve them of trouble 
and prevent delay, but the incubator, too, has its uncertainties. 
Success in artificial hatching requires careful attention to the 




Fig. 91. Nest boxes, made in pairs, for sitting hens. Inside dimen- 
sions : large, 16" X 16" X 18"; small, 12" x 12" X 15" 

operation of the incubator and good judgment in adjusting 
and regulating it. 

Setting the hens. As many broody hens as can be obtained 
should be set at the same time. The most convenient style of 
nest is that shown in Figs. 91 and 92, which can be kept closed if 
desired. The best nest material is soft hay or straw. In prepar- 
ing the nest a poultry keeper shapes the nest material with his 




Fig. 92. Same as Fig. 91, with nest boxes closed 

hand, to give it a bowl shape, pressing it down to make a smooth, 
firm surface upon which the eggs will lie evenly. It is a good 
plan to make the nests and place the hens in them, giving to 
each a few China nest eggs two or three days before the eggs 
that are to be hatched are given to them. The eggs for hatching 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 95 

should be of good size and shape, with good strong shells, and as 
uniform in color as can be obtained. The usual number of eggs 
placed under a hen is thirteen. After the weather becomes warm, 
even a small hen will cover thirteen eggs well, and medium-sized 
hens will cover fifteen or sixteen eggs and often hatch every 
one, but early in the season it is better to give a hen eleven 
eggs or perhaps only nine. The number of eggs given a hen is 
almost always an odd number. There is an old superstition that 
an even number will not hatch. The reason commonly given 
by writers on poultry is that an odd number of eggs arrange 
in better form in the nest, but this is mere fancy. How- 
ever the practice started, the real reason why odd numbers of 
eggs are placed in nests of sitting hens now is that the custom 
is so well established, and the habit of thinking of eggs for hatch- 
ing in odd numbers is so strong, that most poultry keepers do it 
unconsciously. 

Care of sitting hens. The best food for sitting hens is whole 
corn. As the hen will leave the nest only once a day, and not 
always daily unless removed, the food is given in a vessel from 
which she can eat it readily. The usual way is to keep a supply 
where the hens are, so that whenever they leave the nest they 
can get something to eat. Whether to let them choose their 
own time to leave the nest or to keep the nests closed except 
when they are let off at a regular time each day is a point to be 
determined in each case according to the circumstances. If all 
the hens in the same place are quiet and get along well together 
and do not quarrel for the possession of particular nests, they 
may be left very much to themselves ; otherwise the poultry 
keeper should regulate things so that there will be no quar- 
reling and no danger of a nest of eggs getting cold while two 
hens crowd on another nest and break some of the eggs in it. 

Besides grain the hens need water and a place to dust. Most 
sitting hens will dust themselves every time they leave the nest, 
if they have an opportunity to do so. As lice multiply rapidly 



96 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

on sitting hens, it is a good idea, even when the hen can dust 
herself, to apply an insect powder to her and to the nest two 
or three times during the period of incubation. 

The eggs may be tested at the end of the seventh day by using 
a light, as described on page 21. While fertility can be deter- 
mined earlier, waiting until the seventh day enables one to tell 
more surely whether fertility is strong or weak, and to discard 
weak germs as well as infertile eggs. An infertile egg is clear, 
that is, shows no signs of development or decay, at every period 
of incubation. The eggs that rot are fertile eggs in which the 
germs have died. A rotten egg is distinguished from a fertile 
egg through the tester by the movement of the line between the 
transparent air space at the large end of the egg and the dark con- 
tents, this movement showing that the contents are in a fluid state. 
The eggs which are the most opaque and have the air space most 
distinctly marked are those which have the strongest germs. 
Eggs that are conspicuously light-colored (as they appear before 
the light ) when compared with these may as well be discarded. 
If many eggs are discarded, those that remain may be given to a 
part of the hens, and the rest of the hens reset. 

Attention at hatching time. The eggs of medium-sized fowls 
usually hatch in from twenty to twenty-one days. The eggs of 
small fowls take about a day less, and those of large fowls about 
a day more. Hens' eggs have been known to hatch as early 
as the seventeenth day and as late as the twenty-fourth, but 
as a rule chickens that come before the nineteenth day or after 
the . twenty-second are weakly. Hens sometimes trample the 
chickens in the nests or crush the eggs after they are picked, 
so that the chicken cannot turn to break the shell in the regular 
manner. Sometimes this is due to the nervousness or to the 
clumsiness of the hen, but oftener it is caused by the nest being 
too much dished (that is, hollowed so much that the eggs tend to 
roll toward the center) or by lice disturbing her. The chickens 
may be saved either by removing them to other broody hens or by 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



97 




Fig. 93. Coop for hen and chicks, 
to be used without run 



putting them in a flannel wrapping in a warm place. Unless, how- 
ever, the conditions are bad, it is better to leave them with the 
hen. Hens with little chicks should be left in the nests until 

all the eggs that will hatch have 
hatched and the chicks are dry 
and begin to show an inclina- 
tion to run about. Then, if the 
weather is fine, the hen and her 
brood may be taken at once to 
a coop out of doors, but if it is 
cold or stormy, the little chicks 
are better indoors. 

Coops for broods. The coop 
for a hen and chickens should 

be so constructed that they will have plenty of fresh air at night. 

There should be a small run attached to it, to which the hen 

can be confined while the chickens run about or come to her 

to be brooded, as they may wish. It is not a good plan to let a 

hen run with her brood while 

the chicks are very small. The 

chickens do much better if the 

mother is confined and gives 

more attention to keeping them 

warm than to feeding them. 

The coops should not be placed 

in the same spot year after year, 

nor should they be on land upon 

which the old fowls run during 

any considerable portion of the 

year. Sod ground is best. 

Feeding young chickens. From early times in America the 

most common food for young chickens has been corn meal mois- 
tened with water. When fresh this is a good food for chickens 

that run about and eat a great deal of green food, insects, worms, 




Fig. 94. Coop to be used with runs, 
as in Fig. 95 



9 8 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



and small seeds, but a mash of scalded corn meal and bran, such 
as is given old fowls, or a baked johnny cake, is better. There 
is no need of fussing with such foods as finely chopped hard- 
boiled eggs, cracker crumbs, pinhead oatmeal, and other things 
often recommended as most appropriate for the first feeds of 
little chicks. Healthy hen-hatched chicks raised by the natural 
method on a farm need nothing but one soft feed (such as 
has been mentioned) in the morning, a little hard grain toward 




Fig. 95. Coops and runs for hens and chicks 1 

evening, and then, just before dark, all the soft food they will 
eat. The best grain for them is sound cracked corn; the next 
best is wheat. The chickens should have good water always 
before them, and may be given all the milk they want. Skim 
milk, sour milk (either thin or clabbered), and buttermilk are all 
eaten with relish and promote health and growth. Vessels in 
which milk is given must be cleaned often or they will become 
very filthy. 

1 Burlap bags are used to shade the interior or to keep out rain. When not in use 
they are turned back on the top of the coop. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



99 



V -"•" ♦' i 


"' : v '-':' ; - 


A 









Fig. 96. Small house for growing chicks, 
in Maine orchard 



Management of growing chicks. Of course, healthy chickens 
are growing all the time, and growing at a very rapid rate, too ; 
but after the chicks are weaned, they have usually reached the 

point in growth when the 
increase in size in a short 
period is' very noticeable. 
So poultry keepers commonly 
speak of chickens from wean- 
ing time until maturity as 
growing chicks. At this time 
the rudest kind of shelter will 
suit them as well as any. In- 
deed, they hardly need shelter 
from the weather at all. The 
most essential things are a 
good range, apart from the old fowls, and an abundance of food. 
They should be able to pick up a great deal of food for them- 
selves, but should have enough given them to make sure that 
they always have all 
the food they can 
eat. It does not 
pay to stint them 
to make them for- 
age farther. Young 
chickens will always 
take all the exercise 
that they need if 
they have the op- 
portunity, and the 
more they eat the 
better they grow. 

When the range near their coops ceases to afford them good 
picking, the coops should be moved to a place where the food 
to be secured by foraging is more abundant. 




Fig. 97. 



Small house for growing chicks, in orchard 
in New York State 



IOO 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Large Stocks on General Farms 

When farmers in America began to keep larger stocks of 
fowls, the most common practice nearly everywhere was to in- 
crease the general flock until there were far too many fowls on 
the land that they would usually forage over. Under such con- 
ditions fowls on the farm were not profitable. They damaged 
every crop to which they had access, and made the farm most 
unsightly in the vicinity of the dwelling house. Then some 
farmers would reduce the flock and return to the old practice of 

keeping only a few dozen hens, 




Fig. 98. Stone poultry house about 

two hundred years old, on farm of 

F. W. C. Almy, Tiverton Four 

Corners, Rhode Island 



while others would adopt the 
city plan of building houses with 
many compartments and keep- 
ing the fowls yarded in small 
flocks. This plan was usually 
abandoned within a few years, be- 
cause, while it worked very well 
in the winter, when the farmer 
had time to give the hens extra 
care, they were not as well off 
in the summer, when the farmer 
had to give attention to his field crops first. Such was the usual 
course of development of farm methods of managing fowls. 

The colony system. But occasionally a farmer whose flock 
had outgrown its accommodations as one flock would divide it, 
moving a part to another place on the farm, and so was able to 
maintain the increase in numbers without adopting laborious 
methods. This idea was carried out most systematically and 
most extensively in the vicinity of Little Compton, Rhode 
Island, where the Rhode Island Red fowl originated. The first 
settlers in this part of Rhode Island built large stone poultry 
houses like that shown in Fig. 98. Some of these old build- 
ings are still used for poultry. This district is most favorably 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



IOI 



situated for poultry keeping. The snow rarely lies long, and 
the birds can be outdoors nearly every day in winter as well as 
in summer. Being near the 
fashionable summer resort of 
Newport, the farmers . here 
early found a large demand 
for their eggs and poultry at 
high prices in the summer 
time, when in many places 
the prices were low. Then 
in the winter they could send 
eggs to Boston and Provi- 
dence, which were the best 
markets in the country for 
this class of produce. So these farmers had every inducement 
to devise a practical method of indefinitely increasing their 
stocks of fowls. The plan which they adopted was very simple. 




Fig. 99. Rhode Island colony poultry 
house for thirty-five fowls 




Fig. 100. Colony poultry houses on Rhode Island farm 

Small houses, which could easily be moved from place to 
place with a two-horse team, and which would accommodate 
from twenty-five to thirty-five fowls, were made and distributed 



102 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

over the farm. Sometimes these houses were placed in pastures 
not suitable for mowing or for cultivation and remained there 
permanently, but as a rule they were moved from time to time 
to suit the rotation of crops on the farm. As the number of 
these houses on a farm increased, and they were spread over a 
larger area and sometimes placed in fields and pastures a long 
distance from the farmhouse, the work of caring for the fowls, 
even by the simple method used, became too heavy to be done 
by man power alone, and a horse and cart was used in carrying 
food and water, collecting eggs, and moving chicks and fowls 




Fig. io i. Collecting eggs on Rhode Island farm. The little girl is in the box 
in which dough is carried in the morning 

from one part of the farm to another. Thus the work was put 
on a very economical basis, and keeping fowls by this method 
became a common feature of the farming of this section of 
Rhode Island. The methods used here have changed little, if at 
all, since the system was started sixty or seventy years ago. The 
system is so primitive that people who are familiar with more 
elaborate methods often imagine that the Rhode Island farmer, 
who does so well by his simple methods, would certainly do very 
much better if he applied more of the modern ideas . But the test 
of time has demonstrated that this simple colony system is easily 
made permanent, while most of the more ambitious and complex 
systems either fail utterly or have but a transient success. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



103 



Numbers of hens kept. The number of hens kept on a farm 
in this section varies from four or five hundred to over two 
thousand. Stocks of from eight hundred to twelve hundred are 
most common. The principal object is to produce market eggs, 
but as the two-year-old hens and the cockerels that are not 
needed for breeding purposes are sold every" year, the receipts 
from the sale of live poultry are sometimes considerable. 




Fig. 102. Colony houses at Michigan Agricultural College. (Photograph from 

the college) 



Feeding, care, and results. The hens, being well distributed 
over the farm, pick a large part of their living. Hard grain 
(usually cracked corn) is kept always before them in the house, 
in hoppers which will hold a bag of grain each. Once a day, in 
the morning, the hens are given a feed of mash (or, as it is 
called in this locality, dough) of about the same composition as 
the mash described on page 89. The dough is cooked in a 
large iron set-kettle in the evening and left there until it is to 
be fed the next morning. Then it is loaded into boxes or large 



104 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



tubs on a cart. The cart also carries a barrel of water. As he 
reaches each house the driver, with a shovel, throws what dough 
the hens need on the grass near the house. Then he fills the 




Fig. 103. Moving one of the houses in Fig. 102 

water pail and drives on to the next house. The hens require 
no more attention until evening, when the man collects the eggs 
and gives more water where it is necessary. 

Some of the smaller stocks of fowls on these farms — flocks 
that have been selected with care and are given a little more 
attention than is usual — give an average annual production of 



IR'^t 



Fig. 104. Colony houses at Iowa Agricultural College. (Photograph from 

the college) 

eleven or twelve dozen eggs a hen, but the general average is 
only eight or nine dozen. Although the profit per hen is small, 
the compensation for labor and investment is better than on 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 105 

most poultry 7 plants where a much greater product per hen is 
secured. Even when eggs are the most important money crop 
on the farm, the care of the laying hens is but a small part of 
the day's work of the man who looks after them. 

How the chickens are grown. The number of chickens reared 
each year on one of these colony farms is usually about equal to 
the number of fowls kept. Where there are so many hens of a 
sitting variety, and very early hatching is not practiced, there is 
rarely any shortage of sitting hens at the time when they are 
wanted. Usually twenty or thirty hens are set at the same time, 
and it is expected that they will hatch eight or ten chickens 




Fig. 105. Colony houses at Hampton Institute 

each. Sometimes sixty or seventy hens are set at one time. As 
it is almost always quite warm when the chickens are hatched, it 
is customary to give each hen twenty or more chickens. The 
coops are placed in rows, several rods apart each way, on a 
piece of grassland that has had no poultry on it for a year or 
more. Most of the farmers are very particular on this point, 
and prefer to put the young chickens on land on which there 
has been no poultry for at least two years. They have learned 
by experience that under such conditions they can rear a much 
larger percentage of the chickens hatched, and that the chickens 
will grow more evenly and mature earlier. In planning the 
field crops grown on the farm they always try to arrange so 



io6 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 106. Coop for hen and chicks, used 
on Rhode Island farm 



that the small chickens may have fresh land not too far from 

the farmhouse ; land seeded to grass the year before is best. 

The chickens are fed the same dough as is given to the 

hens, but are fed oftener. They have a second meal of dough 

about noon, and their grain 
supply, which is given in small 
troughs, is replenished fre- 
quently. While the hens are 
with the chickens the food 
is placed where the hen con- 
fined to the coop can get her 
share. After the hens are 
taken away, the dough is 
thrown on the grass as the 
cart passes up and down the 
rows of coops. 

When the hay has been harvested and the corn has grown 
tall, a part of the young chickens may be removed from the land 
where they were started, and the coops placed where they can 
forage on mowing lands, in cornfields, and wherever they can 
go without damage to a grow- 
ing crop. As they become too 
crowded in the small coops, 
the cockerels are sold and, if 
there are still too many birds 
in a coop, a few pullets are 
taken from each of the over- 
crowded coops and new colo- 
nies are started, so far from 
their old associates that they 
will not find their way back. 
In the early fall as many 
of the oldest hens are sold as is necessary to vacate the houses 
needed for the pullets reared that season. Then the houses are 






■»i^ 






Fig. 107. Colony house for growing 
chicks, at Macdonald College. (Photo- 
graph from the college) 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 1 07 

thoroughly cleaned. (They may not have been cleaned before 
for six months or a year.) If a house is to be moved to a new 
location, the change is usually made at this time. One or two 
cartloads of clean sand are put into each house, to make the 
floor higher than the ground outside and to provide an absorbent 
for the droppings which are allowed to accumulate. When they 
are brought to the house, which will probably be their home as 
long as they live, the pullets are confined to the house, or 
a small temporary yard is attached to it, so that they cannot 
wander away. After a few days of confinement they accept the 
new home as their headquarters. 

Adaptability of the colony system. The colony system as 
developed in Rhode Island attracted little attention elsewhere 
until very recent years. Since about 1900 many descriptions of 
it have been published, and numerous efforts have been made 
to adapt features of this system to operations in other localities. 
The principal obstacles to this are snow and predacious animals. 
Where snow lies deep for months it is not practical to keep 
fowls in widely distributed flocks in winter. In some places the 
plan of distributing the houses in summer and parking them 
(that is, placing them close together in a regular order) in 
winter has worked very well. Where wild animals are numerous, 
colony methods cannot be extensively applied, but on most farms 
a limited application of the system will greatly increase the 
amount of poultry that can profitably be kept. 

In England many farmers use smaller colony houses than 
those in use in Rhode Island, and move them often, not letting 
a house stand in the same spot long enough to kill the grass. 
Some of the houses used in this way are provided with small 
wheels. The advantage of moving houses often is greatest 
when the fowls are on good arable land, upon which there are, 
or will be, crops that can utilize the manure which the birds 
leave on the land. If the houses are moved methodicall,y, the 
fertilizer will be evenly distributed. 



io8 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Intensive Poultry Farms 



Reasons for concentration. In the early days of the poultry 
fancy in this country the tendency was for each fancier to keep 
as many different varieties as he could find room for or could 
afford to buy. Most of these fanciers were city people who 
thought that, as they kept their fowls in small flocks anyway, 
they might just as well have as many different kinds of poultry 




Fig. 108. Colony houses in foreground ; sheds for ducks beyond. (Photograph 
from Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

as they had separate compartments in their poultry yards. When 
rich men with large estates became interested in fancy poultry, 
they usually built large houses containing many small pens, each 
with its small yard, and bought a few of each known variety. 
By far the greater part of the choicest poultry was kept in small 
inclosures, and the flocks that laid remarkably well were usually 
city flocks that were given good care. This seemed to a great 
many people to prove that fowls did not need the room and 
the freedom which for ages they had enjoyed on farms, and 
that the limit of the possible extension of the city method of 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



109 



keeping fowls in small, bare yards depended in any case upon 
the business capacity of the poultry keeper. 

Concentration not profitable. Very few people who have not 
had experience in growing large numbers of poultry under both 
good and bad conditions can be made to understand how futile 
industry and business methods are when many other things 
which affect results are unfavorable. Even when the obstacles 
to the application of intensive methods on a large scale are 
pointed out to them, most novices imagine that the difficulties 
are exaggerated for the purpose of discouraging them. They 
think that the successful poultry keeper wishes to discourage 




Fig. 109. Commercial laying house at New Jersey Experiment Station. 
(Photograph from the station) 

competition, and that the person who has failed does not want 
to see any one else succeed, and so warns others to let such 
projects alone. Those who have been very successful in their 
first efforts in a small way seldom lack perfect confidence in 
their ability to make good on any scale if once they are in a 
position to devote themselves entirely to this work. 

For some seventy or eighty years, but more especially for 
the last thirty or forty years, the most conspicuous phase of 
the poultry industry in America has been the widespread and 
continuous movement to develop large plants of this character. 
There has been no time, for a quarter of a century, when poultry 
plants of this kind, which to the uninitiated appeared to be highly 



HO OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

profitable, have not been numerous. The owners of many of 
these plants have claimed that they were making very large 
profits, and their claims have led others to engage in the business, 
following in every detail the methods in use on some large plant 
which they suppose is very successful. So, while well-informed 
poultry keepers know that these methods are not practical on a 
large scale, except in a few limited lines of production, there is 




Fig. iio. Interior of a compartment in commercial poultry house, United 
States Government farm, Beltsville, Maryland. (Photograph from Bureau of 

Animal Industry) 

in the business a constant succession of newcomers who try to 
operate egg farms and breeding farms and combinations of 
various lines by methods that are not suited to their purpose. 
Common type of intensive poultry farm. The ordinary special 
poultry farm is a run-down farm upon which have been erected 
the buildings necessary for the accommodation of from four or 
five hundred to two or three thousand fowls kept in compara- 
tively small yards. The buildings are nearly always neat and 
substantial, the fences strong and durable. The arrangement of 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS in 

the plant is orderly, and, when well stocked with fowls and kept 
clean, it presents a most attractive appearance. The houses and 
yards for adult stock, the incubator cellar and the brooder houses, 
the barns and sheds, and the dwelling of the owner or manager 
occupy but a very small part of the farm — usually from one 
to three acres. The young chickens are grown year after year 
on the nearest land not occupied by the permanent buildings 
and yards. In most cases the land is so heavily stocked with 
them that they secure almost nothing by foraging. 

The routine of work on such a farm is very exacting. The 
fowls can do so little for themselves and require so much extra 
care that the poultry keeper knows from the start that he cannot 
make his business pay unless he gets a very high production. 
So all his efforts are devoted to this end. He uses labor-saving 
appliances, carefully systematizes his work, and by great effort 
often succeeds in making a fair profit for a few years. It is at 
this stage of his progress that the poultry keeper of this class 
does the boasting which misleads others. Then things begin to 
go wrong with his stock. His eggs do not hatch well, because 
his chickens, while nominally on free range on a farm, have 
really been no better off than chickens reared under ordinary 
conditions in town. His chickens do not thrive, because they 
are weak and the land is tainted. He himself is worn out with 
long hours of work and no holidays, and if he does not realize 
his mistake and close out the business in time, it is only a ques- 
tion of continuing until his income and credit combined no 
longer suffice to keep the business going. 

This in brief has been the history of all special poultry farms 
where intensive methods were used, except the duck farms 
and the several classes to be described farther on in this chapter. 
By no means all succeed to even the extent described, because a 
great many people who go into the business have so little capital 
that they have to give up the business before they have been 
able to make it show a profit. When the owners have capital, plants 



112 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

are sometimes operated for years at a loss, but it is very rare 
indeed that a poultry farm of this kind (except in the classes to 
be described later) is continued for more than seven or eight 
years, and few of them last five years. Those who wish to make 
a poultry business permanent must adopt other methods. 

Broiler Growing 

The desire for what is rare and costly is a common trait in 
human character. In nothing is it more plainly displayed than 
in the demand for food products out of their natural season. 
An article which in its season of abundance is a staple article 
of diet, within the means of all but the very poorest, at its 
season of scarcity becomes a luxury which only the wealthy 
can afford. 

Before cold-storage methods had been brought to high effi- 
ciency, there was a period in the latter part of the winter and 
the early spring when young chickens were very scarce. The 
number that could be hatched with hens to meet a demand at 
this season was small, and those who were hatching autumn arid 
winter chickens by the natural method found it more profitable 
to keep them to sell as roasters late in the spring and early in 
the summer. 

The "broiler craze. " A little before 1890, artificial incu- 
bators being then first brought to a perfection which made them 
popular, some poultry keepers began to hatch chickens in the 
winter to meet the demand for early broilers. Those who were 
successful made a very good profit on what chickens they had 
ready to sell while the prices were high. Most of them operated 
in a very small way, taking up this work simply for occupation 
when they had nothing else to do. Many were gardeners who 
had just about enough slack time, after the harvest of one year 
was over, to hatch and grow one lot of broilers before beginning 
their regular spring work. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 1 13 

These people were not under any delusions about the limita- 
tions on this line of production. They knew that the demand 
for very small chickens at very high prices was limited and 
easily satisfied. But, as usual, the published accounts of what 
they were doing set a great many people to figuring the possi- 
bilities of profit from such a business conducted on a large scale. 
For a few years the broiler craze affected nearly every one in- 
terested in poultry keeping. Thousands who never engaged in 
it were restrained only because of lack of capital or inability 
to adapt it to their circumstances. Many people who had been 
through several unsatisfactory ventures in poultry keeping 
thought that they saw in this the one sure road to wealth, and 
began to make plans to grow broilers in large quantities. Be- 
sides these business ventures there were countless small ones, 
sometimes conducted under the most unsuitable conditions. 
People tried to grow broilers in living rooms, in attics, in all 
sorts of unheated outbuildings, and in house cellars to which 
the daylight hardly penetrated. 

Present condition of broiler growing. The production of 
broilers as a specialty did not last long. The improvement in 
cold-storage methods soon made it possible for speculators to 
carry over large quantities of summer chickens, and the poultry 
keepers in other lines could easily arrange to produce all the 
fresh broilers that could be sold at a good profit. 

Roaster Growing 

Description of a good roaster. To roast nicely, a fowl must 
be full-grown and well filled out, but young, soft-meated, and 
fat. A fowl is "ripe" for a choice roaster for only a short 
period after arriving at maturity. When a pullet has laid a 
few eggs, her flesh becomes harder and is never again as tender 
and juicy as it was before she laid an &gg. When the spurs 
of a cockerel begin to harden and to grow a long, sharp point, 



H4 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

and the bird becomes boisterous and quarrelsome, the flesh 
becomes dry and tough and is not fit for roasting. 

General and special supplies. From July, when the earliest 
farm chickens are large enough for roasting, until about the first 
of February, when the last of the late-hatched farm chickens 
disappear from the markets, there are nearly always enough very 
good roasting chickens in the general market receipts to supply 
the demand for that class and grade of poultry. Then for four or 
five months there are no fresh roasting chickens on the market 











''■"''. "' V : 






* - ' " 






fe, " ■ 




'*'■ m 


mm 


' 




1f|f S - : ; 


&~ 



Fig. hi. Massachusetts soft-roaster plant 

except those grown especially for this trade. This line of poul- 
try culture was developed first near Philadelphia, in southern 
New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, about forty years ago. 
The chickens were hatched with hens in the autumn and early 
winter, each grower having only a few hundred. They were 
sold not only in Philadelphia but in New York and Boston, and 
in smaller Eastern cities where there was a demand for them. 
They were, and still are, commonly known as Philadelphia 
chickens. 

Large roaster plants. After incubators came into common 
use, the production of Philadelphia chickens increased, but a 
more remarkable development of that line of production took 
place in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, just about the time 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



115 



the broiler craze started. The growing of winter chickens had 
been carried on to some extent in southern New England in 
the same way as in the vicinity of Philadelphia, but the local 
supply was small and irregular until artificial methods were 
adopted. Then, quite suddenly, the industry developed exten- 
sively. in the vicinity of Norwell, Hanover, and Rockland. Its 
growth was remarkable, both because of the number of people 
who were successful on a comparatively large scale, and because 
it attracted almost no attention outside of this district until long 
after it had become a well- 
established local industry. 

The methods of the 
roaster growers in this dis- 
trict are very intensive, but 
as originally developed their 
business was not a continu- 
ous line of intensive poultry 
culture, nor is it continuous 
now except in some cases. 
For many years after the 
business began, the growers bought the eggs that they incubated 
from farmers whose flocks were kept under good conditions and 
were strong and vigorous ; but as the numbers engaged in grow- 
ing winter chickens increased, the supply of eggs from the farms 
was not sufficient, and some of the roaster growers began to keep 
hens to supply a part of the eggs they used. Later some pro- 
duced all the eggs for hatching that they needed for their own 
use, and a few sold to others also. This, however, can be done 
only by those having quite large farms. Some of the most 
successful growers have only a few acres of land and do not 
attempt to keep breeding fowls. 

Hatching begins in August or September and is continued 
until all the chickens that can be handled are hatched. If the 
eggs hatch well from the start, a large grower may have his 




Fig. 112. Incubator cellar 



i6 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



houses full by December, but usually it takes until January to 
complete hatching, and sometimes it takes longer. The price 
paid for eggs for hatching is only a little above the price of 

market eggs, and the buyer 
takes all the risks of poor 
hatches. The chickens are 
kept in warm brooder houses 
as long as they need artificial 
heat, then they are removed 
to cold brooder houses of the 
same type or to colony houses. 
Those who have land enough 
use mostly colony houses. 
While in the heated brooder 
houses the chickens are fed 




Fig. 



13. House used for growing roast- 
ing chickens 



in the regular way — with mixed ground grains, either dry or 
moistened, and small whole or cracked grains. After they leave 
the brooder houses they have cracked corn, beef scrap, and 
water always before them ; for green food they have cabbage 
or the winter rye or grass growing on the land. 

As the object of the grower is to have chickens that will grow 
large and remain soft as long as possible, the breeds used are 





"#fc"ri ' ■" 



Fig. 114. Group of houses like that in Fig. 113 

principally Light Brahmas and Plymouth Rocks, although when 
eggs of these varieties cannot be obtained in sufficient quantities, 
Wyandottes are used. The cockerels are caponized when they 
are about two months old. A capon does not grow a comb or 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS \\J 

spurs, nor does it crow. If a perfect capon, it remains always 
soft-meated and may grow very large, though it does not, as is 
commonly supposed, grow larger than a cockerel within the time 
it is usually kept before being killed. An imperfect capon will 
after a time grow a comb and short spurs and, though sterile, 
becomes harder in flesh than a perfect capon. An imperfect 
capon is technically called a slip. 

About the first of March some of the earliest pullets may 
begin to lay. From that time all the pullets that begin to lay, 
and the slips as they appear, are marketed ; all others are kept, 
because the grower realizes the largest profit on those that can 




Fig. 115. Petaluma egg farm. (Photograph from Bureau of Animal Industry, 
United States Department of Agriculture) 

be marketed in June and July, when the price is highest. 
By the middle of July, at the latest, everything is sold. The 
poultry keeper then begins to prepare for the next crop of 
chickens by taking up all his fences, plowing land that is not 
in grass, and planting it with winter rye or cabbage or some 
late garden crop. Rye and cabbage are preferred, because the 
rye will remain green all winter and furnish green food for 
chickens that have access to it, and the cabbage makes the 
best of green food for the little chickens in the brooder houses. 
It is just as good for the others, too, but not many of the 
poultry keepers grow enough to continue feeding it to them 
throughout the winter. 



II 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



While the land on these plants is heavily stocked with poultry, 
the birds are on it only half of the season, — when vegetation 
grows freely, — and during the remainder of the season a great 
deal of manure is removed from the soil by gross-feeding crops 
like rye and cabbage. So the land may be heavily stocked longer 
than it could be if fowls were on it all the time. The chickens 
grown in this way do not usually grow so large as those that are 




Fig. 116. Group of houses on a Petaluma egg farm. (Photograph from Bureau 
of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

given more room, but they are grown at less cost and are as large 
as the market demands. By this method the land will carry a 
large crop of chickens year after year for many years, yet it finally 
becomes so contaminated that chickens do not thrive on it. 



Intensive Egg Farming 

Still another important development due to artificial incuba- 
tion took place in California. The climate of the Pacific Coast 
is well suited to fowls of the Mediterranean class, the cold never 
being severe enough to affect their large combs. Hence these 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 119 

fowls early became very popular with fanners in this section, 
but as they were non-sitters, those who kept them had to keep 
hens of another breed to hatch and rear the chickens. When 
an incubator factory was established at Petaluma, California, the 
farmers in that vicinity began to use incubators, and some small 
egg farms grew up in the town. White Leghorns were kept 
almost exclusively. Before long the egg industry here had 
grown to such proportions that it was the most important local 
industry, and the district became celebrated as a center of egg 
production. Although the product is different, and a different 
type of fowl is used, the conditions at Petaluma closely resemble 
those in the roaster-growing district of Massachusetts. The 
special egg farms are small, each containing from five to ten 
acres. The houses for the laying hens are larger than the colony 
houses used in Rhode Island, and are arranged in groups of 
three, each group containing about five hundred hens. 

The egg farmers grow their own pullets but, as a rule, do not 
breed or hatch them. The hatching is done by custom hatch- 
eries, the eggs coming from flocks of White Leghorns on farms 
that do not specialize in poultry but keep a flock of Leghorns 
under more favorable conditions than exist on the egg farms. 
Here, as in the Massachusetts district, the bad effects of inten- 
sive methods are reduced for a time, because the fowls affected 
by them are not used for reproduction. 

Poultry Fanciers' Farms 

A large proportion of poultry fanciers are city people who 
have very little room for their fowls. Some have no room at 
all for growing chickens, although, by giving them the best 
of care, they can keep a small flock of adult birds in fair condi- 
tion. Such fanciers have to find farmers to grow chickens for 
them. This is not so easy as is commonly supposed, for the 
farmers who are sufficiently interested in poultry to give them 



120 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



the care required to make good exhibition birds usually want 
to give their own birds all the time they can spare for work 
with poultry. 

So it happens that, after a few years' experience in keeping fine 
fowls in close quarters, an amateur fancier almost always wants 
to move to a farm where he can grow more and better chickens. 
A small farm near a city suits the average fancier best, be- 
cause, when so situated, he can continue his regular work and 




Fig. 117. Yards of a small poultry fancier 

look after his poultry in leisure time. Fanciers generally use 
houses with many pens under one roof, because, even when 
they have only one variety, the different matings must be kept 
separate during the breeding season, the adult males must be 
kept separate at all times, and valuable hens cannot be kept in 
large flocks except when damage to plumage may be remedied 
before they are to be exhibited or sold. A fancier will keep 
only five or six birds, and sometimes only two or three, where 
a utility poultry keeper would keep a dozen. If the yards con- 
necting with the pens in the houses are small, he will arrange 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



121 



so that each lot of fowls 
may have access to a large 
yard daily or on alternate 
days. In every way practi- 
cable the experienced fan- 
cier arranges to give his 
fowls all the advantages of 
natural conditions, while 
isolating them as com- 
pletely as is necessary to 
keep each individual in 
perfect condition. 

Poultry farms that were 
started as intensive market- 
poultry or egg farms are 
sometimes converted into 
fancy-poultry farms. This 
is very likely to be the case 
if thoroughbred stock is 
used and the owner be- 
comes skillful as a breeder. 
If he can breed fowls of a 
quality to command high 
prices, he may be able to 
produce enough of them 
on a small farm to make a 
very good living, when it 
would be very much harder, 
or perhaps impossible, to 
make the farm profitable 
with ordinary stock. 

While farmers usually 
care more for horses, cat- 
tle, sheep, and hogs, many 




122 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



become interested in poultry, and if they are natural fanciers and 
good business men, it often happens that the growing of fancy 
poultry becomes one of the most important industries on the 




Fig. 119. Growing chicks in a fancier's yard 

farm. Many women on farms become interested in fancy poul- 
try, and some become very skillful breeders and exhibitors. 
A farmer-fancier's poultry plant is usually a combination of 




Fig. 120. Young stock in cornfield on a fancier's farm 

extensive and intensive methods. Some buildings with small 
compartments must be provided, but all except the choicest 
birds can be managed just like the ordinary fowls on a farm 



MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS 



123 



where arrangements are made with a view to giving them the 
full advantage of the good conditions which the place affords. 
To a novice in fancy-poultry culture the number of chickens 
grown by expert fanciers seems very small for the equipment 
and the land used, but the old fancier has learned in the costly 
school of competition, by the bitter experience of defeat, that 




Fig. 121. Summer quarters for poultry. (Photograph from New York State 
Agricultural College at Cornell University) 

in growing exhibition poultry it pays to give the birds a great 
deal more room, both indoors and outdoors, than is needed 
simply to get quick growth and good size. Elegance of form, 
depth and brilliance of color, and the indefinable qualities of 
style and finish that distinguish the high-class exhibition fowl 
are obtained in a much larger proportion of birds when they 
are given a great deal more room than they apparently need. 



CHAPTER VI 
DUCKS 

Ducks rank next to fowls in economic importance. If there 
were no fowls, domestic ducks would probably be as numerous 
as fowls are now, for it is much easier to produce eggs and meat 
from ducks than from any known species of gallinaceous bird 
except the fowl. To most people who are not accustomed to 
eating them, neither the flesh nor the eggs of ducks seem quite 
as palatable as the flesh and eggs of fowls. On the other hand, 
people accustomed to eating fat ducks and the eggs of ducks, 
which contain a much higher percentage of fat than hens' eggs, 
often consider the flesh and eggs of fowls rather insipid. The 
feathers of ducks are more valuable commercially than those 
of fowls but are not correspondingly profitable to the producer, 
because ducks are much harder to pluck. 

Description. Common ducks are about the same size as 
common fowls. The improved breeds vary greatly in size but 
do not present such extremes of size and diversity of form 
as are found in the races of fowls. As the duck in a state of 
nature lives much upon the water, its form is at nearly every 
point different from the typical form of the fowl. The duck is 
usually described as boat-shaped, but, while this is a good de- 
scription, it would be more correct to say that a boat is duck- 
shaped. The duck was the natural model for the first builders 
of boats. 

The bills of ducks are large, rather flat, and broad at the tip. 
The species to which most of our domestic ducks belong has 
no head ornaments corresponding to the comb and wattles of 
the fowl. There is one variety of this species which has a 

124 



DUCKS 125 

topknot, or crest. The Muscovy Duck, which is of a differenl 
species, has a hair face with a carunculated red skin. The 
plumage of clucks is very soft and dense, forming a thick cover 
ing which, when the feathers arc in a natural position, is im- 
penetrable to water and so perfect a protection from wind and 
cold that hardy ducks are quite indifferent to keen winds and 
low temperatures, and, if left to themselves, rarely seek shelter 
in winter. During a heavy snowfall they will get under cover 
to escape being buried in the snow. At Other time's they seem 
quite as comfortable on snow and ice as on the ground. One of 
the most interesting sights of the poultry yard is to see a duck 
sit down on the 1 snow or ice when the temperature is below zero, 
draw up its feet and work them into the feathers at the side of 
its body until they are completely covered, tuck its bill into the 
feathers of its back until only the nostrils and a little of the base 
of the bill are exposed, and remain this way through the coldest 
nights rather than go a few feet to a comfortable house with 
warm bedding 011 the floor. Being better adapted to cold than 
fowls, they are, as would be expected, much more susceptible 
to heat and suffer greatly in hot summer weather if exposed to 
the sun or kept where there is not a good circulation of air. 

The tails of ducks are short, spread laterally, and are usually 
folded elose and carried with the tip a little higher than the 
bastx The legs are very short, comparatively slender, and 
weak. Most ducks walk awkwardly and fall down and flounder 
about helplessly when they try to run. The legs of a duck are 
so weak that it is not safe to catch or handle them by the 
legs, as fowls are usually caught and handled. It is very easy to 
break or dislocate the leg of a duck in this way. I fence, the usual 
method is to catch and carry them by the neck, which is very 
Strong. Most persons who are not used to handling ducks are 
afraid of choking them by grasping the neck firmly, but there is 
Very little danger of this. The feet of a duck are webbed be- 
tween the forward toes, which makes them more serviceable as 



126 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

paddles in swimming. They are not suited to perching. There 
is a wild tree duck, and it is said that the domestic Muscovy Duck 
sometimes alights in trees or on objects above the ground, but 
the familiar kinds of ducks rest only on the surface of the land 
or on the water. 

Although the males average a little larger, the male and female 
of the same stock are usually nearer the same size than in gal- 
linaceous birds. The only marks by which sex can be distin- 
guished in all ducks are the voice and the presence or absence 
of the small curled feathers on the tail which characterize the 
males. In party-colored varieties the color markings of the male 
and female are sometimes different. The <c quack " of the duck 
is the note of the female ; the male makes a very subdued 
similar sound, comparing with it as a hoarse whisper compares 
with the natural tones of the human voice. 

The duck derives its English name from its habit of ducking 
its head into the water in search of food at the bottom of the 
shallow waters, which it prefers. The term " duck " is applied 
to males and females collectively, and also to the female as dis- 
tinguished from the male. The male is called a d}'ake. The 
name " drake " is supposed to be derived from an Old German 
word meaning " the chief duck." Any one who is familiar with 
the habits of ducks will see at once the appropriateness of the 
term. Ducks often march in single file, and when they do so, 
all the drakes in a group go first, the ducks following them, 
usually with a little space between. So if there is only one male, 
he marches a little ahead of his flock, like a commander. Young 
ducks are called ducklings, the name being applied to both sexes. 
In our language there are no special terms applying to a young 
duck and a young drake as distinguished from adult birds. 

Origin. Useful domestic ducks are of two species. All the 
breeds of this class, except the Muscovy Duck, are derived from 
the wild Mallard Duck, specimens of which are still frequently 
captured and domesticated. The Mallard takes very readily to 



DUCKS 



127 



domestication. Although in the wild state it is a migratory bird, 
in domestication it soon becomes too heavy to fly far. After a 
few generations in domestication it becomes as large as com- 
mon domestic stock, loses its power of flight, and cannot be dis- 
tinguished from stock that has been domesticated for centuries. 
Mallard Ducks captured in the wild state and kept in captivity 
have been known to lay from eighty to one hundred eggs in a 
season, which is as many as the average domestic duck lays. 

When ducks were first domesticated is not known. The figure 
of a duck was used in the earliest Egyptian hieroglyphics. As 







': c "- .-1 



Fig. 122. Domesticated Mallard Ducks, Brook View Farm, 
Newbury, Massachusetts 

the Mallard is widely distributed and so easily tamed, and as 
domestic ducks of the same type (but apparently not related in 
domestication) are found in widely separated parts of the earth, 
it is plain that the distribution of domestic ducks has been less 
dependent upon the movements of the human race than the 
distribution of the fowl. Wherever at any time in the history of 
the world male and female wild Mallards happened to be caught 
and kept in captivity, a domestic race might be developed. A 
missionary who went to Africa in 1885 and worked among the 
Bakubas — a people more than a thousand miles from the west 
coast of the continent — reported that he found there such little 
mongrel fowls as are common elsewhere in Africa, and a local 



128 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



race of domestic ducks varied in color as are the common ducks 
of Europe and America, but as large as the Rouen and Pekin 
ducks. The Bakubas had had so little intercourse with civilized 
peoples that it was not at all likely that an improved race of 
ducks had been introduced from the outside world, and whatever 
possibility of that might be supposed to exist, the fact that the 
ducks of this country, like the domestic quadrupeds, were dumb 
indicates that they are a distinct and very old domestic race. 




Fig. 123. Colored Muscovy Ducks. (Photograph by E. J. Hall) 

It is worth noting in this connection that the missionary, 
Dr. William H. Sheppard, found it the accepted opinion among 
this savage people that, by a process of natural selection, the 
character of dumbness had been acquired by the domestic 
animals, to which it gave a measure of protection from wild 
enemies in the forest around them. It seems wonderful that 
the theory of evolution was found out by such people before 
it was developed by modern scientists. 



DUCKS 129 

The common duck. Like the ordinary mongrel fowl, the com- 
mon duck (sometimes called the puddle duck, because, when it 
cannot find water elsewhere, it appears to be perfectly satisfied 
with the filthiest puddles) is much the same in all parts of the 
world and is a very inferior bird in comparison with ducks of the 
improved races. Common ducks are usually' very slow growers 
and weigh at maturity from three to four pounds each. As a 
rule they are very indifferent layers, laying only in the spring. 
They are of various colors. 

Improved races. Nearly all our improved races of ducks are 
of foreign origin. At the poultry exhibition at Boston in 1849 
the only kinds exhibited were the Aylesbury, the Muscovy, and 
the ornamental Wood ducks. 

The Aylesbury Duck is a large white duck developed as a 
local variety in the vale of Aylesbury, in England. It has a 
flesh-colored bill, and legs of a pale orange color. Although the 
favorite market duck in England, and early known in America, 
it never became a favorite here. 

The Muscovy Duck is, as has been stated, of a different species 
from our other useful breeds. It is a native of South America 
and is supposed to have been taken to Europe in the seventeenth 
century. It was probably brought to North America from Europe 
less than a hundred years ago. It differs from ducks of Mallard 
origin in several other particulars besides the naked head with 
its bright-red, carunculated skin. The male is very much 
larger than the female. The tail is longer and more depressed. 
There is an entire absence of red pigment in the plumage. The 
natural color is black and white, unevenly distributed. This va- 
riety is called the Colored Muscovy Duck. Many specimens are 
nearly black. The White Muscovy Duck is an albino variety. 
By crossing these two varieties a blue variety is sometimes 
obtained, but, although Blue Muscovy Ducks have been made 
at various times, fanciers have never taken enough interest in 
them to encourage the originators to continue their breeding. 



iio 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



The Rouen Duck takes its name from the town of Rouen, in 
the north of France, though the type seems to have been common 
over quite a large area and not peculiar to the vicinity of that 
town. It is like the Mallard in color, and is just such a duck as 
by good care and selection for size might be developed at any 
time from common ducks of that color. Rouen Ducks are said 




Fig. 124. Rouen Ducks, Brook View Farm, Newbury, Massachusetts 



to have been well known in the south of England early in the 
nineteenth century. When they were brought to this country is 
not known. Although for a long time they have been familiar 
to those who attend poultry shows, and have been widely distrib- 
uted in small numbers, they have never been extensively bred 
because the Rouen, having dark plumage, is not desirable for 
the production of young ducks for market. When mature it 
dresses clean and the quality of its flesh is unsurpassed. 



DUCKS 



131 



The Cayuga Duck is an improved black duck developed about 
the middle of the last century in Cayuga County, New York. 
Some early accounts of its origin stated that it was a domesti- 
cated wild black duck, but it is much more reasonable to suppose 
that it was developed by selection from black and nearly black 
common ducks. 

The White Pekin Duck is a Chinese breed closely resembling 
the Aylesbury Duck of England. It has an orange-yellow bill 



E?3ro&*" 
















^f ■ tfJ^JT 


j^^yf] 




j.m 


Wfi' 






V ""% >» - "*• Jfi 








""** '" ' 



Fig. 125. Flock of Pekin Ducks 

and legs. No large ducks of other colors than white have ever 
been brought to this country or to Europe from China. As far 
as is known, the importations from China to England and the 
United States consisted of only a few birds and were made about 
1 872-1 87 5. Information about these is not very definite. The 
most commonly accepted version is that they were brought to 
England in 1874 and to the United States from England in the 
following year, but some accounts say that both England and 
America received them direct in 1873, and one account places 



132 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



the first importation to England in 1872. The exact truth is not 
of importance in such a matter, but those who are interested in 
the remarkable developments in duck culture which followed 
the arrival of this breed in the Western World naturally wish 
to know the facts. All accounts agree that there were only a 
few ducks brought from China. In England the Pekin became 
quite popular at once. It was hardier and more prolific than the 
Aylesbury, and was used largely in outcrosses, to give vigor to 

Aylesbury stock. In America 
it became immensely popular 
in a few years. It was found 
to be remarkably well adapted 
to intensive methods of poul- 
try keeping, and large duck 
farms were built up ; some of 
these made very large profits 
for long periods of years. 

The Indian Runner Duck 
is a small, active duck which 
originated long ago as the 
common duck on the meadows 
of certain marshy districts in 
the Netherlands. The peas- 
ants of these districts com- 
pelled their ducks to forage 
for their food, and so developed ducks with a more upright car- 
riage and stronger legs than the other races. In the Netherlands 
these ducks are of all colors. 

Ducks of this type, in color white with fawn-colored markings, 
were introduced to poultry fanciers in England in 1893 or 1894 
as Indian Runner Ducks. It was said that they had been first 
brought from India to Cumberland fifty or sixty years before, 
and that ever since that time they had been bred pure by a few 
breeders and more or less mixed with the common stock of that 




Fig. 126. Indian Runner Ducks. (Pho- 
tograph from owner, Clayton Ballard, 
White Pine, Tennessee) 



DUCKS 



133 



section by many others. The story of their history in England is 
much more plausible than that of their origin in India. When 
the breed was shown on the Continent of Europe it was at 
once recognized by fanciers there as an improved variety of a 
common duck. 

Compared with other ducks the Indian Runner is a remark- 
able layer, but it does not, as many admirers of the breed claim, 




Fig. 127. Flock of White Indian Runner Ducks. (Photograph from Bureau 
of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

surpass fowls in egg production, and the market for duck eggs 
is so limited that it is easily overstocked. 

Blue Swedish Ducks and Buff Orpington Ducks are simply 
color varieties of an improved type of the common duck. There 
are several other quite well-marked varieties in Europe that have 
not been seen in this country. 

Ornamental ducks. The ornamental ducks of the same species 
as the common duck, and derived either from common ducks or 
directly from the Mallard, are the East India Duck, the Black, 
White, and Gray Call Ducks, and the Crested White Duck. 



134 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



The Call Ducks are so named because their persistent quacking 
makes them valuable for calling wild ducks within range of the 
guns of hunters, and they are much used as decoys. They are 
very small and were produced by dwarfing common ducks. The 
name " gray," to describe the colored variety, is misleading. The 
color is like that of the Mallard but of a lighter shade. Some 
Mallards are quite as gray as the average Gray Call Duck. The 
Black East India Duck is a dwarf black duck differing so little 




Fig. 128. Blue Orpington Ducks. (Photograph from owner, Sunswick Farm, 
Plainfield, New Jersey) 

from the Call Ducks as to leave no doubt, in the mind of any 
one acquainted with the mysteries of making and naming breeds 
of poultry, that, like the Call Ducks, it is of European origin. 
There are many ornamental ducks of other species, the most 
interesting of which are the brilliantly colored Wood Duck 
(sometimes called the Carolina Duck) and the Mandarin Duck, 
which, besides being gorgeously colored, has a peculiar crest and 
has some of the feathers on its wings oddly curved and spread, 
giving it a singular appearance. Specimens of these ducks are 



DUCKS 



35 



almost always to be seen in a collection of fancy waterfowl. The 
Wood Duck is a native of North America, the Mandarin Duck 
of Northern China. 

Place of ducks in domestication. It has been stated that if 
there were no fowls, the duck would make the best substitute, 
but as we have fowls in great variety, and as* they suit us better 
than ducks for nearly every purpose for which either might be 
used, ducks are not often kept in place of fowls. Small flocks 
of ducks are kept in addition to a flock of fowls, both on farms 
and by town poultry keepers, either because the owner likes to 
have them about or to add to the variety of poultry meat for 
home consumption. 
The flocks of ducks 
so kept are of com- 
paratively little eco- 
nomic importance. 
The ratio of ducks 
to fowls is only 
about one to fifty, 
and the ratio of val- 
ues of the products 
of these two kinds 
of poultry is probably nearer one to one hundred. But when 
poultry keeping is made a special business, duck growing gives 
the surest and the largest profits, because ducks can be grown 
in large numbers more easily than any other domestic animal. 
The largest permanently successful poultry farms in the world 
are the great duck farms of the United States. 

To the fancier, ducks are decidedly less interesting than 
fowls, not only because, as has already been stated, they present 
fewer superficial characters upon which he can exercise his art, 
but because they are, on the whole, less intelligent and less ca- 
pable of developing confidence in one who handles them. Fowls 
are much easier to handle in the way the fancier must often 




Fig. 129. Black and White Call Ducks, Brook View 
Farm, Newbury, Massachusetts 



136 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

handle his birds for thorough examination. As a rule, a fowl 
quickly learns that it is not going to be hurt, and the more it is 
handled the tamer it becomes. Young ducks are almost stupidly 
fearless of the person who feeds them, as long as he goes among 
them without touching them, but after he catches them they are 
as stupidly shy. It takes very much more patience to handle 
ducks as a fancier handles birds than the average human being 
possesses, and so very few people find them satisfactory for 
pets after they cease to be a novelty. 

Perhaps if the interest in the breeding of ducks for exhibition 
were greater, stocks of ducks that were free from this timidity 
could gradually be developed. Individual birds are often found 
which are not at all shy ; and, as a rule, persistent selection for 
any quality will eventually make it a race characteristic. 



CHAPTER VII 

MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 

Although ducks delight in the water and, when they have an 
opportunity to do so, spend a considerable part of the time in it, 
they are often kept very successfully where they have no water 
except for drinking. Some duck breeders, who have kept their 
ducks for many generations without water in which they could 
swim, have said that the ducks lost all desire to swim, and that 
birds of such stock would not go into the water even when they 
had the opportunity to do so. This statement greatly exagger- 
ates the facts. Any young duck, no matter how the stock from 
which it came has been kept, will take to the water as soon as 
it can run about if it is given access to water at that time ; but if 
young ducks are kept away from the water until they are several 
weeks old, and then given access to water in which they can 
swim, they are often as much afraid of the water as they would 
be of any object to which they were not accustomed. If they 
remain near the water, however, it will not be long before they 
follow their natural instinct to get into it. Having once entered 
the water, they are immediately as much at home there as if 
they had always known the pleasures of life in that element. 

As comparatively few people keep ducks, and specialization 
in duck culture is mostly in the line of producing young ducks 
for market, on a large scale, there is not as much variety in 
methods of managing ducks as in methods of managing fowls. 
If ducks are expected to do the best of which they are capable, 
they must be given a great deal of attention. While no bird 
will endure more neglect without appearing to suffer, there is 
none that will respond to good care more generously. 

i37 



138 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Small Flocks on Town Lots 

Numbers. The small flock of ducks on a town lot is usually 
a very small flock, kept more from curiosity and for a little 
variety in poultry keeping than with any definite purpose. Most 
of such little flocks are composed of a drake and from one to 
five ducks. Where a larger flock is kept for the eggs they pro- 
duce, the number rarely exceeds fifteen or twenty. Many town 
people who want to grow only a few ducks each year prefer not 
to keep any adult stock, but to buy a few eggs for hatching 
when they want them. 

Houses and yards. Ducks require about the same amounts of 
house and yard room per bird as fowls. While they will stand 
crowding better than any other kind of poultry, they appreciate 
an abundance of room and good conditions, and are more thrifty 
when they are not overcrowded. Where they can be allowed to 
remain outdoors at night, they really need no shelter but a shed 
large enough to give them shade from the sun on hot days and 
protection from hard, driving storms. On most town lots, how- 
ever, it is advisable to have them indoors at night for protection 
from dogs and thieves. Also, the amount of roughing that they 
like, while not at all detrimental to them, is not conducive to 
early laying. So most duck keepers prefer to have the ducks 
housed at night and in severe weather, and give them approxi- 
mately the same space that would be given to an equal number 
of fowls. 

The floor of the house should be littered with straw, hay, or 
shavings. The object of littering the floors of duck houses is not 
to afford them exercise, but to provide them with dry bedding. 
The droppings of ducks are very watery, and the bedding must 
be changed often enough to keep the ducks clean. It is custom- 
ary to provide shallow nest boxes, placing them on the floor 
next the wall, preferably in a corner. The ducks are quite as 
likely to leave their eggs anywhere on the floor, or out in the 



MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 139 

yard (if they are let out before they lay), but the nests are there 
if they want them, and many will use the nests regularly. 

The only other furnishings needed are a feed trough and a 
drinking vessel, but it is advisable to have a tub or a pan in which 
the birds can take a bath, and to supply them with water in this 
once or twice a week. The drinking vessel must be one that 
they cannot get into, for if they can get into it they will certainly 
do so. An ordinary wooden water pail, or a small butter tub with 
the part above the upper hoop sawed off, makes a very satis- 
factory drinking vessel for adult ducks. It will hold enough 
water for the ducks to partially wash themselves, which they do 
by dipping their heads in the water and then rubbing them on 
their bodies and wings. For the regular bath for two or three 
ducks one of the largest-sized bath pans made for pigeons 
will do very well, or an old washtub cut down to six or eight 
inches deep may be used. For a flock of eight or ten ducks a 
good tub may be made from one end of a molasses hogshead. 
The bath should always be given outdoors, because it takes the 
ducks only a few minutes to splash so much water out of the tub 
that everything around it is thoroughly wet. The drinking water 
should also be given outdoors whenever the houses are open. 

As the ducks of the breeds usually kept can hardly fly at all, 
very low partitions and fences will keep them in their quarters, 
but to keep other poultry or animals out of their yards it may be 
necessary to build higher fences. For the heavier breeds, like 
the Pekin and Rouen, fences are usually made from 1 8 inches to 
24 inches high. The ducks will rarely attempt to go over these, 
but occasionally a drake learns to climb a two-foot fence by using 
his bill, wings, and toes, and may then manage to get over a 
higher fence. For the small, light breeds, fences 3 or 4 feet high 
may be needed. If their yard is on a slope and is large enough to 
give them a chance to start a flight high up on the slope, so that 
they will rise above the fence at the lower side, it may be necessary 
either to put a very high fence on that side or to cover the yard. 



40 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



While the fence for ducks need not be either high or strong, 
there must be no holes in it that a duck, having put its head 
through, could by pressure enlarge enough to let its body pass. 
A piece of wire netting that has begun to rust a little may be as 
good as ever for fowls for a long time, but if used for a duck 
fence it will be most unsatisfactory, because the ducks will soon 
make many holes in it. If wire netting alone is used, it should 
be fastened to the ground with pegs every three or four feet. 

Feeding. The feeding of ducks differs from the feeding of 
hens in that ducks need mostly soft food, and that, if the keeper 

wishes to force growth or egg 
production, they may be fed 
much larger proportions of such 
concentrated foods as beef scraps 
and meat meals. As has been 
stated, in its natural state the 
duck gets the greater part of its 
food from the water. This is all 
soft food, and the bird swallows 
a great deal of water with it. It 
does not, therefore, need a large 
crop in which to soak its food 
before it passes into the gizzard. 
So the crop of the duck is small — merely an enlargement of 
the gullet. Some of the old books on poultry say that the duck 
has no crop, but you can see by looking at a duck that has just 
had a full meal that the food it has taken remains in the passage, 
sometimes filling it right up to the throat. 

With a mash (just the same as is given to hens) morning and 
evening, a cabbage to pick at, plenty of drinking water, and a 
supply of oyster shell always before them, ducks will do very 
well. If they have no cabbage, about one third (by bulk) of 
the mash should be cut clover or alfalfa. When the days are 
long, it is a good plan to give them a little cracked corn or whole 




Fig. 130. Pekin duckling six 
weeks old 



MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 



141 



wheat about noon. The water supply should always be replen- 
ished just before feeding, for as soon as a duck has taken a few 
mouthfuls of food of any kind, it wants a drink of water. 

Laying habits. With the exception of the ducks of the 
Indian Runner type, which lay some eggs at other seasons, as 
hens do, ducks usually lay very persistently for about six months, 
and then stop entirely for about six months. Occasionally ducks 
of other breeds lay a few eggs in the autumn, but this trait has 
not been developed 
in them as it has in 
the Indian Runner. 
If they are com- 
fortably housed and 
well fed, Pekin and 
Rouen Ducks usu- 
ally begin to lay in 
January. If they are 
allowed to expose 
themselves to rough 
weather, and are fed 
indifferently, they 
may not begin to 
lay until March or 
April. When they 
do begin, they usu- 
ally lay much more steadily than hens until hot weather comes, 
and then gradually decrease their production until by midsummer 
they have stopped altogether. 

The eggs are usually laid very early in the morning. Ducks 
often lay before daylight and almost always lay before eight 
o'clock. When a duck lays in a nest, she is very likely to cover the 
egg with the nest material when she leaves it. A duck will often 
make a nest and remain on it an hour or more and then go and 
drop her egg somewhere else and pay no further attention to it. 




Fig. 131. Pekin drake four months old, weighing 
nine pounds 



142 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Growing ducklings. For a poultry keeper who has only a 
little room it is much easier to grow a few ducks than to grow 
an equal number of chickens. There are two reasons for this : 
One is that the ducklings stand close confinement better and 
are not so sensitive to unsanitary conditions ; the other is that 
ducks of the improved breeds grow much more quickly than 
chickens and are grown up before the novelty of caring for them 
wears off and the keeper tires of giving the close attention that 
young poultry need when grown under such conditions. 

The ducks of the improved breeds are mostly non-sitters. 
Unless one has common ducks, Muscovy Ducks, Rouen Ducks 
with some wild Mallard blood, or Mallards not long domesticated, 
he is not likely to have a duck w go broody," and so small lots 
of duck eggs are usually hatched under hens. As duck eggs are 
larger than hen eggs, a smaller number is given to the hen. 
Eleven medium-sized duck eggs are given to a hen that would 
cover thirteen hen eggs. If the eggs are large, it is better to 
give such a hen only nine. 

The development of a fertile duck egg that has a white or 
slightly tinted shell can be seen very plainly when the egg is 
held before a light, much earlier than the development of a hen 
egg. If the shell is green and quite dark in color, the develop- 
ment of the germ may not show any better than in a brown- 
shelled hen egg. The period of incubation is about four weeks. 
Eggs are sometimes picked as early as the twenty-fifth day, but 
usually on the twenty-sixth day. As stated in Chapter II, the 
duckling usually waits quite a long time after chipping the shell 
before it completes the process and emerges. 

In a little duckling we find the most striking resemblance to 
a reptile that is to be seen among domestic birds. It has a long, 
soft body, a long neck, short legs, and a wriggling movement, 
and sometimes, when it is wriggling through a small hole, it looks 
very snakelike. While they are very small, ducklings are the 
most interesting of young birds: They will, go to the water as 



MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 143 

soon as they leave the nest. Dabbling in it will not hurt them 
in the least if the weather is pleasant, if the water is not cold, 
and if they can leave it when they are tired and go to their 
mother and get dry and warm. Much of the pleasure of growing 
young ducks is in watching their behavior in the water. For 
this purpose a large pan or a small, shallow tub may be placed 
in their coop. It should either be sunk in the ground, so that 
they can get in and out easily, or two short pieces of board should 
be nailed together at such an angle that they will form a little 
walk from the ground outside, over the edge of the vessel, and 
to the bottom inside. This walk enables the ducklings to get 
out if the water gets so low that they cannot scramble from its 
surface over the sides of the pan or tub. The best way to teach 
the little ducks to use the walk is to put a little pile of sods or 
earth beside the vessel containing the water. The* ducks will 
learn very quickly to go into the water in this way, and will soon 
find their way out by the board walk. After they have come out 
by the walk a few times, they will begin to go in by it. It is 
very important to make sure that if young ducks are given water 
to play in, they can get out of it easily. Many who have not had 
experience in handling them neglect this and feel very bad 
when some of their ducklings are drowned. 

If proper provision is made for the safety of the ducklings, 
they afford a great deal of entertainment. One of the first 
things a little duck does when it gets into the water is to go 
through the peculiar ducking performance that gives the name 
to its species. The little fellows duck their heads to the bottom, 
and their tails and feet go up into the air while they mechanically 
feel with their bills for the food which instinct seems to suggest 
should be there. They play in the water, going through all the 
motions of feeding in it. If the sun is warm, they are as likely 
to lie down together in the sun when they leave the water as 
they are to go to the hen to be brooded. As they lie on the 
ground they often turn one eye toward the sky and look steadily 



144 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

upward, as if they knew intuitively that one of their most dan- 
gerous natural enemies might appear from that quarter. In every 
way they comport themselves just as old ducks do and not at 
all in the ways of their hen mother. 

The young ducks may be fed, as the old ones are, on mash, 
but should be fed oftener, unless their coops are where they can 
eat all the grass they want and can get a great many flies, worms, 
and insects. They are expert flycatchers, and if there is any- 
thing in their coop to attract flies, they will get a great many of 
them. Under such conditions three feeds a day will be sufficient. 
If they have no grass they should be fed five times daily and 
should be supplied with tender green food of some kind. For 
the first few days the mash given them should have a little very 
fine gravel or coarse sand mixed with it — about a heaping table- 
spoonful to a quart of mash. At any time after that when the 
ducks seem dull and weak, a little' fine gravel in the mash will 
usually tone them up. 

Little ducks grow very fast and in a few weeks are entirely 
independent of the hen. At ten or twelve weeks they are fully 
feathered and almost full-grown, and are ready to be killed and 
eaten as " green ducks." 

Small Flocks on Farms 

General conditions. The small flock of ducks on the farm is 
usually most profitable if it can be given the run of a small pas- 
ture or orchard where the birds have good foraging and have 
access to a pond or stream but cannot wander away. Ducks on 
the farm are often allowed to run with other poultry. This may 
do very well if the flocks of all kinds are small and can separate 
when foraging, but as a rule it is better to put the ducks where 
they will be away from other poultry. A small flock of ducks 
properly placed on a farm should require very little food and 
very little attention. If possible the birds should be free at night, 



MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 145 

because the worms and grubs come to the surface in greatest 
abundance then, and they can get as much in an hour early in 
the morning as they can in several hours after the sun is high. 
The principal objections to leaving them out at night are that 
they may be attacked by animals that prey upon them, and that 
the ducks may lay their eggs where they are not easily found. 
The person in charge of the ducks has to use his judgment as 
to whether the risks in his case are so great that the ducks 
should be confined at night. 

When a flock of ducks on a farm has liberty to wander at 
will, it often makes a great deal of trouble, because ducks are 
prone to stop for the night wherever they happen to be when 
they have eaten their fill late in the day. 

Feeding. If the ducks are kept in until they have laid, they 
should have a little food when they are let out. It does not 
make much difference what this is. If a mash is made for other 
poultry, some of it may be given to them. Otherwise, a little 
whole grain will make them comfortable until they can pick up 
a more varied breakfast. The best method of feeding the young 
ducks will depend upon the conditions. As a rule it is better to 
keep them quite close for the first two or three weeks and feed 
them well. The ideal way is to coop them on grass, or in a 
garden where they can get a great deal of green food and worms. 
Treated in this way they will get a better start and will grow 
much faster and larger than if they are allowed to wear them- 
selves out by running about while small. On a farm where 
there is no water near the house, but where there is a stream 
at a little distance, the young ducks should be so placed that 
they cannot make their way to this stream. Very small ducks 
at liberty will often find their way alone to water so far from 
their home that it was not supposed that they could locate it. If 
they have an opportunity to do so, small ducks are much more 
likely than older ones to wander off in search of water, and 
instinct seems to direct them toward it. 



146 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

After the ducklings are three or four weeks old, they may be 
given as much freedom as old ducks. Unless natural food is 
very abundant, they should be fed some grain for a while. 
Ducks grown in this way cannot be sold to advantage as green 
ducks. At this stage of growth they cannot be collected from 
small flocks and marketed in condition to bring the prices paid 
for those from the special duck farms, and as it costs the farmer 
little or nothing to keep his ducks until mature, it is usually 
more profitable for him to do so than to sell them earlier. 









F V 






fc^lp\ 






-■■ - ' ' : "'■ '.:■" , : -■■■<•■ 






. •:- 




£Li_. bS ■■■ 1 


;.>%- . , ;__- 








*t~ * ■ '- •* - <* s • - ^^^n? 


^33?" - ,'' "^ "^ 


p**»' ^ 


u~ 


T ;j^t 



Fig. 132. Duck farms at Speonk, Long Island 

On a farm near a market where there is a good demand for 
green ducks it might pay very well to grow several hundred 
a year. On this scale the methods should be similar to those 
used on the special duck farms, except that the hatching might 
be done with hens. It would not do to let the ducks run about 
as recommended for stock which is to be kept until mature, be- 
cause then they would not be fat at the age for killing them. 

Market Duck Farms 

History. The growing of ducks for the New York City 
market began on Long Island at a very early stage of speciali- 
zation in poultry culture. Many farmers there produced a few 
hundred ducks for this market each year, and found it very 



MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 



147 



profitable. As the demand increased they tried to increase pro- 
duction to meet it, but were unable to do this, because there was 
then in this country no duck adapted to their needs. The Ayles- 
bury Duck, the favorite table duck in England, was too delicate. 
The only hardy white duck that they had was the White Muscovy. 
This breed was not very satisfactory, because the females are 
much smaller than the males, but they had to use white ducks, 
for the colored ducks will not pick clean at the age at which 
ducks can be marketed most profitably ; so they did the best 




Fig. 133. View from the windmill tower in Fig. 132 

they could with the White Muscovy Duck, under the restric- 
tions placed upon their operations by the difficulty of getting 
broody hens. While the industry was mostly on Long Island, 
there were duck growers here and there on the mainland in the 
vicinity of New York and also near Boston, but there were no 
duck farms of any importance in other parts of the country. 

When the W'hite Pekin Ducks were brought from China, 
and reports of their hardiness, prolificacy, and rapid growth 
were circulated, the duck growers were at first very skeptical, 
but they soon learned that the reports which they had supposed 
were greatly exaggerated were literally true. Then every duck 



148 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

grower had to have Pekin Ducks. The production increased 
very much after the introduction of the Pekin Duck, but the 
growth of the industry was still retarded by the impossibility 
of getting all the hens that were needed to hatch the eggs. 
Several incubators had been invented, which hatched very well 
for those who had the skill to operate them, but which, in the 
hands of unskilled operators, spoiled most of the eggs placed in 
them. About 1890 appeared the first incubators with automatic 
regulators that really worked so that the ordinary person could 
manage the machines successfully. One of the New England 
duck growers who had invented the best of the machines used 
before this time was already growing ducklings on quite a 
large scale. On Long Island, where most of the duck farms 
were located, the farmers were hard to convince of the superi- 
ority of incubators for their work. Indeed, the only way that 
they could be convinced was by practical demonstrations right 
on their own farms. The first incubators used there were ma- 
chines set up on trial by a manufacturer who had invented an 
incubator which was very easy to operate. This man went to 
the duck growing district, placed machines on various farms, 
and went from farm to farm daily to attend to them, until the 
farmers were fully convinced that the machines would do what 
was claimed for them. In a very short time the artificial method 
had displaced hatching with hens on the commercial duck farms, 
and .the business was growing amazingly. Within ten years 
there were many farms producing from 15,000 to 20,000 ducks 
a year, and a few producing from 40,000 to 50,000. One man 
on Long Island, who operated two farms a few miles apart, 
sometimes grew 80,000 ducks in a season. Those who were 
successful on a large scale became moderately rich. Without 
exception the successful duck farms have been built up from 
small beginnings by men who had very little capital to start 
with. Some of these farms have been operated on a large scale 
for twenty years. 



P^^Pff^f^V' 








n a a q^j \.*< 


! U filiate JU 




. 


! I 



Fig. 134. House and yards for breeding stock 




Fig. 135. Brooder house for young ducklings 




Fig. 136. Fattening sheds and yards 

VIEWS OF WEBER BROTHERS' DUCK FARM, WRENTHAM, 
MASSACHUSETTS 



149 



150 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

As would be expected, the success of the big duck farms has 
led many people with large capital to undertake to establish 
duck farms on a still larger scale. But these undertakings do 
not last long, because it is practically impossible to secure for 
such a plant an organization as efficient as one developed by 
the owner of a plant which has grown from small beginnings 
under his own management. 

Description. A large duck farm is a very interesting place at any 
time, but is most interesting at the height of the growing season, 



' ._» 




Fig. 137. Duck house and yards on seashore, Fishers Island, New York 

when all the operations in the business are going on at the same 
time. The total number of birds on a farm at any time is very 
much less than the product for the season, because the first ducks 
hatched will have gone to market before the eggs which produce 
the last are laid, but in flocks of more than 10,000 the impression 
on the visitor is much the same, no matter what the numbers. 

Duck farms are of two types : those located on streams or 
inlets have the yards for all but the smallest ducks partly in the 
water ; the inland duck farms, on which the young ducks grown 
for market are given no water except for drinking. Some of 
the inland farms give the breeding stock access to streams and 



MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 



151 



ponds only during the molting season, when they can be allowed 
to run in large flocks and a small area of water will serve for 
all. For a time after the large inland duck farms were first 
established it was claimed by many that ducks grew faster when 
not allowed to swim than they did when allowed to follow their 
natural inclination to play in the water. No doubt some ducks 
which were in dry yards grew better than some having access 
to large bodies of water, and on the whole as good ducks 
were grown on the inland farms as on those near the water, 




Fig. 138. Quarters for breeding stock on an inland duck farm. Swimming 
tanks in the yards 



but it has long been known that it is much easier to manage 
the ducks when they have water in their yards. There are two 
reasons for this : in the first place, they are much more contented 
in the water ; in the second place, they feel very much safer 
on the water when anything alarms them, and will keep quiet 
on it when, if they could not retreat to the water, they would 
rush about in a panic and many would be injured. 

Ducks are very timid and easily panic-stricken. The duck 
grower has to take every possible precaution to guard against 
disturbances of this kind, because ducks are so easily injured, 
and even if they are not hurt, a sudden fright will make them 



152 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

shrink a great deal in weight. Visitors who come merely out 
of curiosity are not desired on duck farms at any time, and 
none but those familiar with the handling of ducks are ever 
allowed to go about the farm without a guide who will see that 
the ducks are not disturbed. Many visitors think that this is 
unreasonable, but the duck grower knows that the mere pres- 
ence of a stranger excites the ducks, and that a person walking 
about might put a flock in a panic which would at once extend 
to other flocks, simply because he was not familiar enough with 
the ways of ducks to detect the signs of panic in a flock which 
he was approaching, and to stand still until they were quiet, 
or move very slowly until he had passed them. If a stranger, 
walking between yards where there were five thousand ducks 
fattening, made an unconscious movement that set the ducks in 
motion, the loss to the grower could hardly be less than from 
five to ten dollars, and might be very much more. Where such 
little things can cause so much trouble and loss, the difference 
between success and failure may lie in preventing them. 

On a duck plant with a capacity of 50,000 ducks everything 
is on a big scale. Although ducks will stand more crowding 
than other kinds of poultry, it takes a large farm for so many. 
The buildings will cover many thousands of square feet of land 
and, though of the cheapest substantial structure, will represent 
an investment of fifteen or twenty thousand dollars. Incubators, 
appliances, breeding stock, and supplies on hand will amount to 
about as much. The incubator cellar will be several times as 
large as the cellar under the ordinary dwelling house. Before 
the so-called mammoth incubators were made, the largest-sized 
machines heated with lamps were used on all duck farms, 
and an incubator cellar would sometimes contain as many as 
seventy incubators having a capacity of from 200 to 300 eggs 
each. Now many of the large farms use the mammoth incuba- 
tors, with a capacity of from 6000 to 18,000 eggs each. These 
mammoth incubators are really series of small egg chambers so 



MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 



153 



arranged that the entire series is heated by pipes coming from 
a hot-water heater, instead of each chamber having an inde- 
pendent lamp heater as in the small, or individual, machines. 




Fig. 139. Feeding young ducks on farm of W. R. Curtiss & Co., 
Ransomville, New York 

As nearly all kinds of supplies are bought by the carload, and 
as stocks must be kept up so that there will be no possibility 
of running short of foodstuffs, a great deal of space is required 



154 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

for storage. Large quantities of ice are needed to cool the 
dressed ducks before shipping them to market, so the farm 
must have its own ice houses and store its own supply of ice in 
the winter. For some years after duck farms grew to such large 
proportions, the mixing of mash was all done by hand, with 
shovels. Often one man was kept busy all day long mixing 
mash, and very hard work it was. Now the men on the large 
farms mix the food in big dough mixers, such as are used by 
bakers, and work that would take a man an hour is done in a 
few minutes. 

In some sections the killing and dressing of the ducks is done 
by men with whom duck picking is a trade at which they work 
during its season. In others the killing is done by men, but the 
pickers are women living in the vicinity of the farm, who can 
be secured for this work whenever they are needed. A farm 
that markets 50,000 ducks in a season will keep a large force of 
pickers busy the greater part of the time for many months. 
Quite a large building is required to provide room for the pickers 
to work in, for tanks for cooling 500 or more ducks at once, for 
space for the men who pack them, and for lofts for drying the 
feathers before they are sold. This drying process must be used 
whether the birds are dry-picked or are scalded before the feathers 
are removed. Water on feathers dries quickly, but the oil in 
the quills dries very slowly. The feathers from one duck are 
worth only a few cents, and where small numbers are grown the 
feathers are hardly worth the trouble of saving and curing. On 
a large plant the total product of feathers for a season amounts 
to several thousand dollars, and it pays to provide facilities for 
taking proper care of them. 

After the crop of ducks on an inland farm is marketed, the 
fences must be removed and the land plowed and sowed with 
winter rye. This crop is used extensively for this purpose, be- 
cause it is a gross feeder and takes the impurities from the soil 
very fast, and also furnishes a good supply of green food for 



MANAGEMENT OF DUCKS 155 

the stock ducks during the winter and for the first young ducks 
put on the land in the spring. Where the farms are large 
enough, all ducks may be kept off a part of the land each year 
and crops grown on it. The farms located at the waterside do 
not have to look to the purification of the land so carefully, 
because the rains wash a great deal of the droppings away. 
Some of these farms get large quantities of river grass from 
the streams and cut it up to mix with the food for the ducks. 



Duck Fanciers' Methods 

There are two general classes of duck fanciers : those who 
breed one or more of the useful varieties for fine form and 
feather points, and those who breed the ornamental varieties. 
Breeders of the latter class usually keep other kinds of orna- 
mental poultry also. 

The methods of the fanciers of useful kinds of ducks compare 
with those of the practical growers who handle small numbers 
as do those of the fowl fancier with the methods of the poultry 
keeper who keeps a few fowls for his own use. In a general 
way they are the same, yet wherever it is necessary they are 
modified to secure the best possible development of the type. If 
a duck fancier has not a natural water supply for his ducks, he 
either makes a small artificial pond or ditch or gives them water 
for bathing much oftener than the commercial duck grower 
thinks is necessary. He also gives both old and young ducks 
more room, and encourages them to take exercise, because this 
makes them stronger, more symmetrical, and better able to stand 
transportation and the handling to which they are subjected when 
taken to shows. Most duck fanciers are also fanciers of fowls or 
of some other kind of poultry. The competition in ducks is not 
nearly so keen as in fowls. Hence they are so much less inter- 
esting to a fancier that few are satisfied with the sport that may 
be obtained from exhibiting ducks only. 



156 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

When the growing of green ducks for market began to be 
developed upon a large scale, many of those engaged in this 
line exhibited stock and sold birds for breeding and eggs for 
hatching. They soon found that while the Pekin Duck was 
unrivaled as a market duck, it was not of sufficient interest to 
fanciers to excite the competition that creates high prices for 
the finest specimens, and that it paid them better to devote 
themselves exclusively to the production of market ducks. At 
the present time only a few market duck growers make a busi- 
ness of selling breeding and exhibition stock. Most of them 
will not take small orders, but will fill large orders when they 
have a surplus of breeding stock and can get a good price 
for it. On almost every large commercial duck farm there are 
hundreds of birds much better than most of the Pekin Ducks 
seen at poultry shows, and many better than the best exhibited. 
There is probably no other kind of poultry in which so large a 
proportion of the finest specimens are found on the plants of 
those producing for market. 

The ornamental varieties of ducks are given much less at- 
tention in America than they deserve. Few are seen except in 
large collections of fancy waterfowl, and sales from these col- 
lections are principally for special displays at shows. On many 
farms the Mallard, Call, and East Indian Ducks might be es- 
tablished and left to themselves, to increase in a natural way, 
only enough being sold or killed to keep them from becoming 
too numerous. If located in a suitable place, such a flock makes 
a very attractive feature on a farm. The highly ornamental Man- 
darin and Carolina Ducks, being able to fly quite as well as 
pigeons, must be kept in covered runs. They will breed and 
rear their young in a very small space. A covered run 6 ft. 
wide, 6 ft. high, and from 20 to 30 ft. long, built in a secluded 
place and having a small shelter at one end, makes a very satis- 
factory place for a pair of ducks of any of the small breeds to 
live and rear their young. 



CHAPTER VIII 

GEESE 

People who are not familiar with animals often get wrong 
ideas of the characters of certain creatures from the popular 
metaphorical use of their names. Perhaps those who first applied 
these metaphors understood them correctly, but after long use 
by people acquainted with the metaphor but not familiar with the 
animal to which it relates, a part of the meaning is likely to be 
lost. This is what has happened to the term "goose" as applied 
to a person. When one acts stupidly foolish about some little 
thing he is often called a goose. Most people, associating the 
idea of stupidity with the name of the goose, suppose that geese 
are very stupid and uninteresting. If you will notice how the 
term " goose " is commonly applied to persons, you will discover 
that it is very rarely used except to apply to a person for whom 
the speaker has a great deal of affection. Under the same cir- 
cumstances others are more likely to be designated by some 
harsher term. The most marked characteristic of a goose is 
not stupidity but an affectionate disposition. The ancient Egyp- 
tians noted this, and in their hieroglyphic writing a goose stood 
for " son." The goose is a very intelligent and interesting bird. 
It is of a most social nature and becomes very much attached 
not only to its mates but to other animals and to people. No 
domestic animal except the dog develops so much affection for 
its master as a goose will if it is permitted to do so. But, while 
interesting in some ways, the goose has so little of the other 
qualities which lead man to make a companion and pet of an 
animal, that its devotion is not usually encouraged. Commercially 
geese and ducks belong to the same class and are used in the 

i57 



58 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



same way (the goose being preferred where size is desired), but 
in some points of character, structure, and habits they are quite 
different. 

Description. In general appearance a goose resembles a duck 
so closely that people not familiar with both often mistake large 
white ducks for geese, but no one that knows either kind well 
is likely to make mistakes in the identity of any of the common 

varieties. While 
many of the small 
domestic geese 
are no heavier 
than the largest 
ducks, geese are 
on the average 
more than twice 
as large as ducks. 
Their legs are 
longer and much 
stronger. Their 
bills are larger 
at the juncture 
with the head and 
smaller and more 
pointed at the tip. 
While ducks are 
usually very timid, geese are bold, and this makes a marked 
difference in their attitude when approached and also in the 
carriage of their bodies. They are very strong birds, quite able 
to defend themselves against the attacks of small animals and 
from annoyance by children. Indeed, they are very likely to 
take an aggressive attitude toward persons or animals that they 
regard as trespassers, and a large gander when angry is a dan- 
gerous customer. A blow from his wing might knock a child 
down or even break a small child's arm. 




Fig. 140. Emden Geese 



GEESE 



159 



There are no regular distinguishing marks of sex in geese. 
The males average larger than the females, but the difference 
is slight and some females may be larger than some males of 
the same breeding. In some foreign varieties, not known in 
this country, the males are mostly of one color and the females 
of another, but as there are exceptions to . this rule, it is not 
reliable. In those varieties which have a knob on the bill this 
is likely to be more prominent in the males. There is nothing 
in the form of the 
plumage to distin- 
guish the male, like 
the little curl in the 
tail of the drake. 
The voices of males 
and females are so 
nearly alike that, 
while a difference 
may sometimes be 
noted in the voices 
of birds known to be 
of different sexes, 
the voice is not a 
plain indication of 
the sex. There are 
some males so dis- 
tinctly masculine, and some females so distinctly feminine, in 
appearance and behavior, that a person familiar with geese will 
not often make a mistake in identifying the sex by the general 
appearance. There are others about which the most expert 
goose breeder is in doubt until the laying season arrives and the 
production or nonproduction of eggs shows without doubt which 
birds are females and which are males. 

The name goose is applied to either male or female without 
reference to sex, and also to the female as distinguished from 




Fig. 141. Toulouse Geese 



i6o 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



the male. The male is called a gander. The young are called 
goslings. Goose and gander are the modern forms of Anglo- 
Saxon names. 

Origin. Our fully domesticated geese all originated in the 
Old World. The European stock is believed to be derived 
from the Gray Lag Goose, which is still found in Europe in 
the wild state. The origin of the curious name " Gray Lag" 
has been the subject of much speculation. The most plausible 
theory is that which takes "lag" in its common meaning 




Fig. 142. Toulouse goslings three weeks old 

and supposes that the term was applied to this species of goose 
because it was slower in motion, or because it lingered longer 
in Northern Europe, than the less familiar species. As in the 
wild state the Gray Lag Goose ranged over Europe and North- 
ern Asia, it may have been domesticated many times in many 
different places. Wild specimens may still be brought into 
domestication, but there are no authentic reports of such cases. 
The Chinese breeds of geese, which will shortly be described, 
are quite different in appearance from the European races, 
but the difference does not necessarily show that they are of 
different origin. 



GEESE 161 

Common geese. Throughout Europe and America the ordi- 
nary geese are of much the same type as their wild progenitor. 
They are a little heavier and coarser than the Gray Lag Goose, 
and have not its great power of flight, yet some of them can fly 
better than any other domestic poultry. The author has seen 
flocks of common geese fly from a high hill over the roofs of 
tall buildings at its foot and alight in a stream fully an eighth 
of a mile from where they started. It is perhaps needless to say 
that they always walked home. Such geese were hard-meated 
and tough except when quite young. They were geese that 
picked the most of their living where food was none too plenty. 
Well-kept stocks of common geese have probably always been 
very good table poultry. 

Improved races. In various parts of Europe the common 
geese have somewhat distinctive race characteristics. The Roman 
Geese are supposed to be the oldest distinct race. They differ 
from ordinary geese in that the prevailing color is white, and 
they are more prolific layers. The Pomeranian Goose, found 
throughout Germany and Southeastern Europe, is somewhat 
larger. The female of this race is usually white, the male white 
with a gray back. Because of the. peculiar markings of the male 
this variety is sometimes called the Saddleback Goose. The 
Emden and Toulouse Geese are very large. The Emden was 
developed in Germany, where it was at one time called the 
Brunswick Goose. The first specimens seen in America came 
from Bremen in 1826 and were called Bremen Geese. They 
had been known in England for a long time and had become 
very popular there under the name of " Emden Geese." The 
name "Bremen" was used in this country until about 1850, 
when the English name was adopted. 

The Toulouse Goose is a very large gray goose which origi- 
nated in a goose-growing district in the vicinity of Toulouse in 
the South of France. It was introduced into England about 
1840 and into America about fifteen years later. 



l62 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



In Russia gander fighting was from very ancient times a 
popular sport, and several varieties of geese were bred especially 
for their fighting qualities. The most common of these is the 
Tula Goose, which is usually gray in color but is sometimes clay- 
colored. The latter point is very interesting for its bearing on 
the question of the common origin of the European and Asiatic 




Fig. 143. White China Geese. (Photograph from Charles McClave, 
New London, Ohio) 



breeds of geese, to be discussed in the next paragraph. None 
of the Russian races of geese are known in this country. 

The Asiatic races of geese probably came to America as early 
as the Asiatic races of fowls. They were early known in England 
under a variety of names, and were quite popular there over a 
hundred years ago as Spanish Geese. A writer in an agricultural 
paper in 1848 stated that he had seen White China Geese in 



GEESE 



163 



Virginia in 18 17. It appears, however, that the early introduc- 
tions were immediately so mixed with the native geese that the 
distinct type was lost, and that it was not until nearly 1850 that 
the specimens were brought here from which the stocks now 
known were produced. There are two varieties of the China 
Goose — White and Brown. They are smaller and more graceful 
than the improved 
European varie- 
ties and are more 
prolific layers than 
any except per- 
haps the Roman 
Goose. They have 
a large knob on 
the head at its 
juncture with the 
upper mandible. 
Most of the geese 
of Europe are 
either white or 
gray (black-and- 
white). The red 
which appears to 
a slight extent as 
brown in the Gray 
Lag Goose has 
been lost or so reduced that it is not noticed except in the Tula 
Goose, which is sometimes clay-colored. The colored variety of 
the China Goose is distinctly brown. Hence, if they came from 
the same wild species as the European geese, the red which was 
reduced in Europe was greatly increased in China. But if, 
as is not impossible, they came from different wild species, 
a most interesting question arises : The Chinese types and 
the European types are perfectly fertile when bred together. 




Fig. 144. Brown China Geese. (Photograph by 
E. J. Hall) 



164 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Would their wild ancestors (supposing them to have the same 
characteristics) be equally fertile ? Unless we can find a wild 
ancestor for the Chinese type, all that we know of the relations 
of domestic races points to the conclusion that they, like the 
European races, are descended from the Gray Lag Goose. 

The variety known as the African Goose is a larger and 
coarser type of the Brown China, and is probably obtained by 
crossing with the Toulouse or by selection from mixed flocks. 




Fig. 145. African Geese on a Rhode Island farm 

Nothing definite is known of the origin of this type, but to any 
one familiar with the stock in the goose-growing district of Rhode 
Island, and with the breeding methods of the farmers there as 
applied in the development of the Rhode Island Red fowl, it 
appears probable that African Geese came from this district. 
Ornamental varieties. There are two ornamental varieties of 
domestic geese and quite a number of species of wild geese that 
are kept in collections of fancy waterfowl. The Sebastopol 
Goose evidently belongs to the common domestic species. It is 



GEESE 165 

about the size of the common goose, is white in color, and has 
a peculiar development of some of the feathers of the body and 
wings, this development of the plumage giving the variety its 
ornamental character. A number of feathers on the back of this 
bird are long and twisted, as if they had been loosely curled, and 
lie in a wavy mass on the back and rump. The Egyptian Goose 
is the smallest domestic goose. It is unlike other domestic geese 




Fig. 146. Sebastopol Geese on an English farm 

in being quite gaudy in color. It is found in the wild state and 
also in domestication in many parts of Africa. Sebastopol and 
Egyptian Geese are rare in this country. 

The Canada Goose, or American Wild Goose. Few persons in 
America have not at some time seen a flock of wild geese flying 
in wedgelike formation as they migrate in the spring and fall. 
Their honking can often be heard when they cannot be seen. 
Hunters watch for these flocks and, when they are flying low, 



1 66 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



sometimes shoot them as they pass, but the favorite method of 
hunting wild geese is to induce them to approach a hunter con- 
cealed where he can get a better shot at them. For this kind of 
hunting, shooting stands are built near bodies of water where 
wild geese may alight in their passage. These stands are either 
concealed in the bushes or masked by green boughs. In order 
to bring near the stands any wild geese that may alight of their 
own accord, and also to attract any flying by, captive wild geese 

are used as decoys. At first 
the birds used for this pur- 
pose were those crippled but 
not killed by the hunters 
and kept in confinement. 
As the supply secured in 
this way was small, and as 
the wild birds bred readily 
in captivity, the breeding of 
wild geese for decoys soon 
became quite common in 
districts where the shoot- 
ing of this kind of game 
was good. The wild geese 
will mate with domestic 
geese, producing a sterile 
hybrid called a mongrel 
goose. 
Place of geese in domestication. In ancient Egypt and Rome 
the goose was a sacred bird, not an object of worship but re- 
served for the use of the priests, who keenly appreciated the 
advantage of having a monopoly of the use of the best domestic 
table bird then in existence. In later times, until the turkey was 
introduced, goose was the favorite kind of poultry for festal 
occasions all through Europe. Then it lost some of its popu- 
larity in those places where turkeys were extensively grown. In 




Fig. 147. A pet Canada gander. (Pho- 
tograph from George E. Parrett) 



GEESE 



67 



Germany, Austria, and Russia there is still a very large produc- 
tion of geese. In this country geese are grown in small numbers 
by a few persons in almost every community. The feeding and 
flocking habits of geese especially adapted them to the conditions 
under which they were kept when stock of all kinds was allowed 
to run at large and to feed on common or unoccupied land in 
charge of a gooseherd. As towns grew, and as people became 
less tolerant of the trespassing of live stock, the growing of geese 




Fig. 148. Mongrel Geese on a Rhode Island farm 

in towns declined. Nearly all the geese now produced in this 
country come from flocks on general farms. The production of 
geese on farms has been restricted to some extent by the abun- 
dance and cheapness of turkeys. As turkeys become scarce and 
dear in any locality the production of geese seems to increase. 
From early times geese have been prized for their feathers. So 
valuable have these been considered that it has been a practice 
to pluck the live geese each year before they molted. Public 
opinion now condemns this barbarous practice, and persons pluck- 
ing live geese are sometimes punished for cruelty to animals. 



CHAPTER IX 

MANAGEMENT OF GEESE 

Geese will bear confinement well if given proper attention, 
but they require such large quantities of succulent green food 
that it does not pay to grow them where they cannot secure 
most of this by foraging. Very few people who keep geese in 
inclosures too small to furnish them with good pasture can con- 
veniently supply them with all the green food that they need. 
Hence no one engages in growing geese in close quarters for 
profit. Many, howeyer, grow a few geese under such conditions 
because of the interest a small flock affords. Goose growing 
cannot be developed on intensive lines as duck growing has 
been. One obstacle to this is the difficulty of supplying green 
food under such conditions. Another is that the average egg 
production is small. The description of the management of 
geese on farms will show more fully why this branch of poultry 
culture is likely always to be restricted to general farms. 

Small Farm Flocks 

Size of flock. On the ordinary farm, where only a few dozen 
geese are grown each year, a flock of one male and from two to 
four females gives a sufficient number of breeding birds. It is 
more difficult to get a start with geese than with fowls or ducks, 
because a young gander will often mate with only one goose, 
and an old gander separated from mates to which he has become 
attached may be very slow about establishing new family rela- 
tions. An experienced goose grower does not expect to get very 
good results the first season that a flock of breeding birds are 



MANAGEMENT OF GEESE 169 

together. On the other hand, a flock once harmoniously mated 
does not have to be renewed every year or two. As long as the 
old birds are vigorous the entire product of young may be sold 
each season without reducing the producing capacity of the flock. 
The average gander is past his prime after he is six or seven 
years old, but geese are often good breeders' until ten or twelve 
years old. Occasionally a goose lives to a great age. There are 
reliable accounts of geese breeding well when over twenty years 
old. Some stories of geese living to more than eighty years of 
age have been widely circulated, but little credence is to be given 
such tales ; people who originate them and suppose that they are 
true do not know how difficult it would be to make sure of the 
identity of a goose through so long a period. 

Houses and yards. Geese, like ducks, prefer to live in the 
open air, and do not often voluntarily take shelter from any 
element but heat. It is customary to provide a small shelter 
which thay may use if they wish. In most cases it is not neces- 
sary for a farmer to make a yard especially for geese. The 
permanent fences or walls between the divisions of the farm will 
usually keep geese in the pasture allotted to them. The best 
place for geese is a marshy meadow in which some parts of the 
surface are elevated enough to be quite dry at all seasons. These 
places afford more comfortable resting places when the birds 
tire of the wet land. They also furnish different kinds of grass 
from those growing on very wet land. On many farms there 
are tracts of land much more suitable for geese than for any 
other live stock. Cattle and hogs sometimes cut up such land 
very badly, destroying the vegetation on it and making it un- 
sightly. Such a piece of land is sometimes a part of a pasture 
used for cattle. In that case it may be a good plan to fence the 
cattle from the soft ground with a wire or rail fence, which keeps 
them out of the part reserved for the geese, yet allows the 
geese the range of the whole pasture. A small number of geese 
in a large pasture will not hurt the pasture for cattle or horses. 



i;o OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Too many geese in a pasture spoil the grass for themselves as 
well as for other stock. Even when cattle have access to all 
parts of a pasture in which there are geese, a small space should 
be inclosed for a feeding pen, where food for the geese will be 
out of the reach of other stock. This is especially necessary 
during the breeding season, when they usually require extra food. 

Feeding. A flock of geese in a good pasture need no other 
food except at the breeding season or when they are being 
fattened. If there is any doubt about the pasturage being suffi- 
cient, a small trough or box containing grain of any kind that it 
is convenient to give them should be put where they can eat 
what they want. When there is snow on the ground, they should 
have a little grain and all the cabbage, beets, turnips, or other 
vegetables they want. 

Laying season and habits. Geese usually begin to lay in 
February or March. As many nests should be provided as there 
are geese, for while two or more geese sometimes lay peaceably 
in the same nest, it is more likely that each goose will want one 
to herself. A barrel placed on its side in a secluded place makes 
a good nest. Geese are sometimes very notional about the loca- 
tion of the nest and, neglecting one provided for them, may 
choose a spot right out in the open or in some place where the 
nest is not well protected. When they do this, it is a good plan 
to place over the nest, without disturbing it, a large box with a hole 
cut in one end for passage. Geese, like ducks, lay very early 
in the morning. When they begin laying while the weather is 
cold, the person who has charge of them must be up early and 
get the eggs before they are chilled. A goose usually lays from 
twelve to eighteen or twenty eggs and then goes broody. The 
common practice is to set the first lot of eggs under hens, and 
keep the goose away from her nest until she shows no inclina- 
tion to sit. She may then be allowed access to the nest and 
before long will begin laying again. As a rule the second lot of 
eggs will be fewer in number than the first. When the goose 



MANAGEMENT OF GEESE 171 

goes broody the second time, it is as well to set her, for if 
stopped again she may not resume laying. Occasionally a goose 
lays for a whole season without going broody. 

Hatching and rearing goslings. In hatching goose eggs under 
hens the hens are managed in just the same way as if they had 
hen eggs. Each hen is given four or five' eggs, according to 
the size of the eggs and the size of the hen. A goose must be 
set in the nest where she has been laying. If she is inclined to 
be very cross if approached while sitting, she should be left to 
herself as much as possible, care being taken that nothing can 
molest her. With the help of the gander a goose can defend 
her nest against almost anything likely to attack it, but some 
eggs would probably be broken in the fray. 

The period of incubation is from thirty to thirty-five days. 
The goslings sometimes chip the eggs two days before com- 
pleting the process. They should be left in the nest until they 
begin to run about. Then, if they are with a goose mother, 
they may safely be left to the care of the old ones, and may 
not even need to be fed. The early goslings with hen mothers 
should be placed on sod ground where the grass is fine and 
soft, in coops such as are used for little chickens, with a small 
pen in front of each coop to keep them from wandering away. 
This pen may be made of boards 8 or 10 inches wide, set on 
edge and kept in place by small sticks driven into the ground. 
It is best to give them only grass to eat the first day. After that 
two or three light feeds of mash may be given daily, but they 
should always have all the fresh, succulent green food that they 
can eat. The coops and pens should be moved as often as is 
necessary to secure this end. The goslings should also be con- 
stantly supplied with drinking water. They will appreciate a 
bath occasionally. 

Goslings grow very rapidly. In from ten to fourteen days 
they are so large that they no longer need the hen mother and 
she may be taken away. At this stage several broods may be 



172 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 149. Goslings three or four 
days old 



combined and the flock allowed the run of any place where it 

can graze unmolested. A shelter should be provided for protec- 
tion from the sun, and a roomy 
coop with a dry floor to keep 
them in at night. If allowed 
to do so, they would stay out 
and graze at intervals during 
the night, but the owner will 
sleep more comfortably if he 
is sure that nothing can dis- 
turb them. Although very big 
babies, they are quite soft and 
helpless at this stage. When 

six weeks old a gosling is nearly half -grown. Young goslings 

that were started with hen 

mothers may then be put into 

the pasture with the old geese. 

When ten or twelve weeks old 

they will be almost as large as 

the adult birds. 

In growing geese on the 

farm the most important thing is to provide good pasture. Grass 

is not only the most econom- 
ical food, but it is the best 
food. Geese will grow and 
fatten on grass without grain, 
but will not fatten as quickly 
or be as firm-fleshed. To fatten 
for market they should be con- 
fined for from ten to twenty 
days before they are to be 
killed, and fed all that they 

will eat of some very fattening food. Corn soaked in water 

until it is soft is an easily prepared food and a very good one. 




Fig. 150. Goslings three weeks old 




Fig. 151. Goslings nine weeks old 



MANAGEMENT OE GEESE 173 

Large Flocks of Geese on Farms 

The most important goose-growing district in the United 
States is that part of Rhode Island where the colony system of 
egg farming is used. This district is well adapted to goose grow- 
ing. The winters are not severe, and the birds can have grass 
almost the year round. The breeding geese are often kept in 
pastures occupied by hens and cattle, but there are also many 
small ponds and marshy places used exclusively for geese. The 
absence of foxes makes it possible to keep them in fields a long 
way from the farmhouses, and for this reason many spots are 
used for geese which in other districts would be too exposed. 
The large flocks of hens in this district give an abundance of 
sitters to hatch the early goslings. As the person who looks 
after the sitting hens and the young chickens on one of these 
farms has to give the greater part of his time to that work for 
several months in the spring, he can often use the remaining 
time to best advantage by hatching and rearing a few hundred 
goslings. So a large proportion of the farms which specialize 
in eggs also specialize in geese. 

The numbers grown on a farm vary from ioo to 500, the 
average being between 200 and 300. To produce this average 
number, flocks of 15 or 20 geese and 4 or 5 ganders are kept. 
A flock of this kind does not mate miscellaneously, as a similar 
flock of ducks would. It is composed of as many families as 
there are ganders, and if the pasture is large, these families 
will remain separate a great deal of the time. 

The method of handling the geese on these farms differs from 
the ordinary farm method in that the work is done more system- 
atically and more attention is given to the goslings while growing. 
They are grazed each year on new grassland. Most of them 
are sold unfatted, as soon as they are of full size, to men who 
make a business of fattening and dressing them. 



174 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Goose-Fattening Farms 

Market duck growing is conducted on so large a scale that 
each grower can employ expert pickers and sell his product di- 
rectly to wholesale dealers in poultry. So the duck grower fattens 
his own ducks before killing them. It is natural for him to do 
this, too, because his method of fattening is a modification of 
the feeding process which he has used from the start. As he 




Fig. 152. Goslings grazing on a Rhode Island farm 

nears the end of his process of feeding, he simply increases the 
proportion of fat-forming material in the food and feeds all that 
the ducks will eat. The fattening of geese that have been grown 
on grass to make them of the quality that will bring the highest 
price requires a change to a heavy grain diet. The farmers who 
grow these geese could fatten them better than any one else and 
make more profit on them, but few of these farmers are willing 
to give them the special attention that this requires. So large 
a part of the geese sold alive are thin that the men who bought 
them to dress for market long ago saw an opportunity to make 




175 



176 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

a greater profit by fattening them before they were killed. Some 
of those who engaged in fattening geese were very successful 
and made large profits. As they extended operations in this 
line they required a great deal of land. Sometimes as many 
as 15,000 geese are fattened on one farm in a season. The 
fatteners buy in the early part of the summer from the farmers 
who sell the green geese as soon as they are grown. As these 
make the finest geese for the table, and as the best demand for 
geese comes at the holiday season in the winter, a large part of 
them are put in storage after being killed. After the green geese 
are disposed of, the fatteners buy live geese shipped in from 
distant points, and have them ready to kill about the time when 
the demand for goose is good. 

While they are very profitable when everything goes well, fat- 
tening geese is a business attended .by heavy risks. In buying 
from many different sources a fattener may get some geese having 
a contagious disease, and the infection may spread through his 
whole flock before he discovers it, for some diseases have no 
pronounced symptoms in their early stages. Keeping such large 
numbers of geese on the same land year after year also brings 
trouble through the pollution of the soil. 

Growing Thoroughbred Geese for Exhibition 

The proportion of thoroughbred geese among those grown 
for market is very small. Most of the geese on farms are grades 
produced by crossing thoroughbred or high-grade males on the old 
unimproved stock. This gives a type of goose which is much 
better than the old common goose but not nearly as large as 
the heavy Emden and Toulouse Geese. The intermediate size 
is, however, large enough to meet the general market demand. 
The production of thoroughbred geese is carried on to supply 
stock of medium quality for the farmers who want to maintain 
a good grade of stock, and to supply exhibition birds of the 



MANAGEMENT OF GEESE 177 

best quality for the relatively small numbers of fanciers and 
breeders of standard-bred stock. The usual method of growing 
exhibition geese is to keep only one breed on a farm, and to man- 
age them as ordinary geese are managed, except that, to secure 
the best possible development, the breeder is more careful than 
the average farmer is to provide abundant pasture and all the 
grain that the birds can use to advantage. Occasionally several 
breeds of geese are kept on a farm, but most breeders consider 
one enough. 

Growing a Few Geese on a Town Lot 

Old geese are so noisy that they are undesirable inhabitants 
for populous places. In such a place a poultry keeper who wants 
to grow a few geese often finds it satisfactory to buy eggs for 
hatching and either dispose of the goslings as green geese when 
three months old or eat one as he wants it until all are gone. 
The only difference in handling goslings in close quarters and 
on farms is in the method of providing the green food. On the 
farms the birds graze ; on the town lot they must be fed very 
abundantly with succulent food. They will eat almost any vege- 
table leaf that is young and not too tough, and they should 
have such food almost constantly before them. Most people who 
try to grow geese in a small space injure them by feeding too 
much grain. If they have had no experience in this line, they 
suppose, quite naturally, that birds so much alike as the goose 
and the duck, both in outward appearance and in the texture and 
flavor of the flesh, require the same diet. When we compare the 
duck, which lives so largely on grain and meat, with the goose, 
which makes greater growth in the same period on grass alone, 
we can begin to appreciate what large quantities of bulky green 
food the goose needs to accomplish so remarkable a result. 

While the growing of geese in bare yards is not recommended 
as a paying venture, every one interested in poultry should grow 
a few occasionally for observation. 



178 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Growing Wild Geese in Captivity 

Wild geese mate in pairs. If they are to be bred successfully 
in captivity, they must have a place away from other animals, 
where they will not be disturbed. They will be more contented 
if located near a small pool or stream. A pair of wild geese 
is usually kept during the breeding season in a small, isolated 
inclosure containing a permanent water supply. Here the female 
will make her nest, lay her eggs, and hatch her brood. The male 
at this period is very savage and will vigorously resent any inter- 
ference with his mate. Most wild geese in captivity lay but a few 
eggs, and the broods hatched are small. There are seldom more 
than five or six goslings in a brood. After the young are hatched, 
the parents may be allowed to leave the inclosure with them. 



CHAPTER X 
TURKEYS 

The turkey is commonly considered the best of birds for the 
table, the most desirable for any festive occasion, and quite in- 
dispensable on Thanksgiving Day. It is the largest bird grown 
for its flesh. As usually found in the markets, geese and turkeys 
are of about the same weight, because most people, when buying 
a large bird for the table, want those that, when dressed, weigh 
about ten or twelve pounds ; but the largest turkeys are con- 
siderably heavier than the largest geese, and the proportion of 
extra large birds is much greater among turkeys. 

Description. A dressed turkey and a dressed fowl are quite 
strikingly alike in shape. The most noticeable difference is in 
the breast, which is usually deeper and fuller in a turkey. The 
living birds are distinctly unlike in appearance, the carriage of 
the body and the character and expression of the head of the 
turkey being very different from those of the fowl. The head 
and upper part of the neck are bare, with a few bristly hairs. 
The bare skin is a little loose on the head and very much looser 
on the neck, forming many small folds, some of which are sac- 
like. It varies in color from a livid bluish-gray to brilliant scarlet. 
An elongated, trunklike extension of the skin at the juncture 
of the beak with the head takes the place of the comb in the 
fowl. There is a single wattle under the throat, not pendent 
from the jaw, as in the fowl, but attached to the skin of the 
neck. The feathers on the lower part of the neck are short, and 
the plumage of the whole body is closer and harder than that of 
most fowls. The wings are large. The tail spreads vertically and 
is usually carried in a drooping position. This, with the shortness 

179 



180 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

of the feathers of the neck, makes the back of the turkey 
convex. The usual gait of the bird is a very deliberate walk. 

The male and female differ conspicuously in so many points 
that the sex of an adult bird is distinguished without difficulty. 
As a rule the males are much larger than the females of the 
same stock. In colored varieties the males are more strongly 
pigmented, and the shades of color in them are more pro- 
nounced. The head characters of the male are much more 
prominent in size and more brilliant in color. Both sexes have 
the power of inflating the loose appendages of the head and 
neck. In the male this is highly developed ; in the female only 
perceptible. The male has a brushlike tuft of coarse hair grow- 
ing from the upper part of the breast. This tuft, called the 
beard, is black in all varieties. The female is usually shy and 
has a low, plaintive call. The male challenges attention and 
often struts about with his tail elevated and spread in a circle 
like a fan, wings trailing on the ground, the feathers all over 
the body erected until he looks twice his natural size, and at 
frequent intervals vociferously uttering his peculiar <( gobble- 
gobble-gobble." The male turkey has short spurs like those of 
the male fowl. 

The name turkey was erroneously given in England when 
the birds were first known there and it was supposed that they 
came from Turkey. The adult male is called a turkey cock, also 
a tom-turkey (sometimes simply torn) and a gobbler. The adult 
female is called a tttrkey hen, or a hen turkey, the order of the 
terms being immaterial. Young turkeys before the sex can be 
distinguished are variously called young turkeys, turkey chicks, 
and poults, the latter being considered by poultrymen the proper 
technical name. After the sex can be distinguished, the terms 
cockerel and pullet are applied to turkeys in the same way 
as to fowls. 

Origin. The turkey is a native of North America. Although 
not as widely distributed as before the country was settled, it is 



TURKEYS 



181 



still found wild in many places. It was domesticated in Mexico 
and Central America long before the discovery of the New World. 
Domesticated stock from these places was taken to Spain and 
England early in the sixteenth century, and was soon spread all 
over Europe. The domestic stock of the colonists in the United 
States and Canada came from Europe with the other kinds of 
domestic poultry. It is probable that from early colonial times 
the domestic stock was occasionally crossed by wild stock, but 




Fig. 154. Common turkeys on a New England farm 

we have no information about such crosses until after the Revo- 
lutionary War. From the earliest published statements in regard 
to the matter it would appear that such crosses had long been 
common, and that the benefits of vigorous wild blood were ap- 
preciated by the farmers of that time. The wild turkey is about 
as large as a medium-sized domestic turkey but, being very close- 
feathered, looks smaller. It is nearly black, and the bare head 
and neck are darker in color than in most domestic birds. 

Common turkeys. The turkey is not so well adapted to do- 
mestication as the fowl, duck, and goose. Under the conditions 
to which they have usually been subjected domestic turkeys have 



1 82 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

lost much of the vigor of the wild stock. As far as is known, 
the birds taken to Europe after the discovery of America were 
black or nearly black. In Europe white sports appeared and 
were preserved, and the colors became mixed — black, white, 
gray of various shades, brown, and buff. That has been the 
character of most flocks in this country until quite recent times, 
and many such flocks are still found. 

Improved varieties. The development of the domestic turkey 
is unique in that the most marked improvement in domestic 
stocks has been due to extensive introductions of the blood of 
the wild race. The reason for this is indicated in the statement 
in the preceding paragraph, in regard to the lack of adaptation 
of the turkey to the ordinary conditions of life in domestication. 
The turkey deteriorates where the other kinds of poultry men- 
tioned would improve. So, while in Europe a few color varieties 
were made, and in some localities both there and in America local 
breeds of special merit arose, on the whole the domestic stocks 
were degenerate. The distinct color varieties were the Black, 
the White, and the Gray, but by no means all turkeys of these 
colors were well-bred birds. The color varieties were crudely 
made by the preference of breeders in a certain locality for a 
particular color. They were impure and often produced speci- 
mens of other colors because of the occasional use of breeding 
birds unlike the flock. In early times it was the almost universal 
opinion that crossbred stock had more vitality than pure-bred 
stock. Hence farmers, although preferring a certain type of 
animal, would often make an outcross to an entirely different 
type, and then by selection go back to the type of their prefer- 
ence. When this mode of breeding is adopted, undesirable colors 
may appear for many years after a bird of a foreign variety has 
been used in breeding. 

The local European breeds that gained a wide reputation 
were the Black Norfolk, the Cambridgeshire Bronze, and the 
White Holland. Black and White turkeys were perhaps quite 



TURKEYS 183 

as popular and as well established in other places as in those 
mentioned. Black turkeys were the most common kind in Spain 
and in some parts of France. In some other parts of France, 
and in parts of Germany and Austria, White turkeys were the 
most numerous, but in general the turkeys of Europe and 
America were of various colors, with gray predominating. 

In the United States a local breed of very good quality was 
developed in Rhode Island about the middle of the last century. 
It appears to have been known at first as the Point Judith Bronze 
Turkey, and also as the Narragansett Turkey, but the first name 
was soon dropped and has long been forgotten by all but those 
familiar with the early literature. The Narragansett Turkey was 
not bronze as the term is now applied to turkeys ; it was a dark, 
brownish-gray, which is doubtless the reason why the name was 
changed after the distinctly bronze turkeys became well known. 
Although the Narragansett Turkey is described in the American 
Standard, and prizes are still offered for it at some shows, the 
type has almost disappeared. 

Bronze turkeys. The accidental crossing of wild with tame 
turkeys produced, in the domestic flocks where such crosses oc- 
curred, many specimens of exceptional size and vigor, in which 
the blending of the colors of the wild turkey with the gray of 
the domestic birds gave rise to a very beautiful type of colora- 
tion. It was neither black nor brown nor gray, but contained all 
these shades and had an iridescent bronze sheen. As the crosses 
which produced these were only occasional, the wild blood being 
reduced in each generation removed from it, the bronze type 
was usually soon merged with and lost in the common type. 
As the wild birds became scarce, crosses were rare, and what 
improvement had been accidentally made was in danger of be- 
ing lost, when the awakening of interest in all kinds of poultry 
stirred turkey growers to more systematic efforts for the im- 
provement of domestic stock by crossing with the wild stock. 
Those who were able to do so captured wild birds and bred 



184 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



them in captivity, producing both pure wild and half-wild stock. 
They also secured the eggs of wild birds and hatched and reared 
the young with tame hens. With wild stock under control, they 
were able to use as much wild blood as they desired in their 

flocks, and soon 
fixed and improved 
the bronze type 
until they had 
a variety of tur- 
keys that were 
extremely hardy, 
larger than the 
wild race or any 
domestic stock that 
had hitherto been 
produced, and also 
more attractive in 
color. The name 
" Bronze " was 
soon applied ex- 
clusively to this 
type of turkey 
in America. In 
England they are 
called American 
Bronze, to distin- 
guish them from 
the Cambridge 
Bronze, which 
seems to be very nearly a duplicate of the Narragansett. 

The evolution of the Bronze Turkey in America is one of 
the most interesting things in poultry culture. The work was 
done on a very large scale. It was not just a few breeders 
that engaged in grading up domestic turkeys with wild blood, 




Fig. 155. White Holland Turkey cock. (Photograph 
by E. J. Hall) 



TURKEYS 185 

but a great many scattered all over the country. Many, re- 
mote from places where wild turkeys ranged, paid high prices 
for full-blooded wild males, and also for grades with a large 
proportion of wild blood. In this way the wild blood was very 
widely distributed. As the superiority of the bronze type be- 
came established, turkey growers everywhere bought Bronze 
males to head their flocks, and so in a remarkably short time 




Fig. 156. Flock of White Holland Turkeys 

Bronze Turkeys of a type much superior to the old domestic 
stock became the common turkeys in many districts. 

Interest in the American Bronze Turkey arose in England 
at a very early stage of this development. In fact, there is some 
reason to believe that the publicity given to several early ship- 
ments of small lots of wild turkeys to France and England 
did more than anything else to direct the attention of breeders 
in this country to the value of systematic breeding to fix the 
characters which wild blood introduced. The most celebrated 



1 86 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



of these shipments was one taken to France by Lafayette on 
his return from his last visit to the United States in 1825. 
About this time, or earlier, an English nobleman, who had 




Fig. 157. Bronze Turkey cock. (Photograph by E. J. Hall) 

some American wild turkeys, presented his sovereign with a 
very fine horse. The king, instead-of expressing pleasure with 
the gift, intimated that he would prefer some of the wild turkeys, 



TURKEYS 187 

and was accordingly presented with a pair. The use of wild blood 
to give greater vigor to domestic stock continues, though it gives 
no better results now than the use of vigorous Bronze Turkeys 
many generations removed from wild ancestry. 

Influence of the Bronze Turkey on other varieties. Although 
White turkeys have long been very popular in some parts of 
Europe, in this country they were, until recently, considered 
too weak to be desirable for any but those who kept them as a 
hobby. By chance mixtures of Bronze and White turkeys, and 
in some instances by systematic breeding, white turkeys that 
were large and vigorous were produced. Some of these were 
large enough to be called mammoths, as the largest Bronze 
Turkeys were. A few breeders who had these big white turkeys 
advertised them as Mammoth White Turkeys produced by Mam- 
moth Bronze Turkeys as sports and in no way related to the 
old, weakly white birds. But whatever may have been the case at 
the outset, in a few years the Mammoth Whites were so mixed 
with others that the distinction was lost, for the best buyers of 
superior white turkeys were those who liked the color and had 
inferior stock which they wished to improve. All white turkeys 
in America now go by the old name, " White Holland Turkeys." 

Yellow or buff turkeys were often seen among the old com- 
mon turkeys. They were usually small and very poor in color. 
The mixture of bronze turkeys with these birds occasionally 
produced larger birds of a darker, more reddish buff but very 
uneven in color, with the tail and wings nearly white. From 
such birds, by careful breeding, a dark red race with white 
wings and tail was made. This variety is called the Bourbon 
Red, from Bourbon County, Kentucky, where it originated. 

Other varieties of the turkey. The only other variety worthy 
of mention here is the Slate Turkey. Birds of this color are 
often seen in mixed flocks. Some of very good size and color 
have been bred for exhibition, and the Slate Turkey in America 
is classed as a distinct variety. 



188 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Place of the turkey in domestication. In discussing the 
history of the turkey in domestication much has been said of 
the influence of conditions on the type and on the vitality of this 
bird. The case of the turkey is peculiar, because it seems as 
capable of being tamed as the fowl, the goose, or the duck, yet 
does not thrive under the conditions in which it would grow 
tame. It is peculiarly sensitive to the effects of soil which has 




Fig. 158. Bourbon Red Turkeys. (Photograph from owner, C. W. Jones, 
Holmdel, New Jersey) 

been contaminated by the excrement of animals, and so instinc- 
tively avoids feeding places on which other animals are numerous. 
Thus it requires a large range and, if permitted to follow its incli- 
nation, spends most of its time at a distance from the homestead. 
The successful growing of turkeys depends upon the watchfulness 
of the caretaker and the absence of their natural enemies. This 
will appear more clearly when the methods of managing them 
are described in the next chapter. Turkey culture is not well 
adapted to the more intensive methods of farming which become 



TURKEYS 189 

necessary after the first fertility of the land has been exhausted. 
Hence the turkey has almost disappeared from many places 
where turkey growing was once an industry of considerable im- 
portance. The farms of the Central West and the mountain 
regions of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee 
have for many years produced most of the turkeys consumed 
in this country, but the changing conditions in these regions 
seem unfavorable to the increase of turkey culture. Attempts 
to grow turkeys on a large scale have been made on the Pacific 
coast. While these may succeed for a time, turkey culture in 
this country is likely to decline rapidly unless changes in eco- 
nomic conditions afford cheaper labor on farms, or unless the 
natural enemies of poultry are so reduced that flocks of turkeys 
may be kept in a half -wild state. 



CHAPTER XI 

MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS 

The turkey is almost exclusively a farm product. It is possible 
to grow a few good turkeys in confinement, but this is rarely 
done except in experimental work or by persons who grow a 
few for amusement and for an opportunity to study some of their 
characteristics. A few adult turkeys may be kept on a small farm 
and remain about the homestead as other poultry does. The 
turkeys themselves may get along very well, but they are likely 
to abuse the fowls, and as they can easily fly over any ordinary 
fence, they cannot be controlled except by putting them in 
covered yards. Turkeys kept under such conditions cause so 
much trouble that, after the novelty of watching them has worn 
off, the owner soon disposes of them. It is where the farms are 
large and there is a great deal of woodland and pasture through 
which the turkeys may roam without strict regard to farm bound- 
aries, and large grain and grass fields where they can forage after 
the crops are removed, that turkeys in large numbers are grown 
for market with good profit. On such farms, too, the farmer, if 
he is a good breeder, can produce the finest exhibition specimens. 

Size of flocks. The number of turkeys kept on a farm for 
breeding usually depends upon the number of young it is desired 
to rear, but the difficulty of keeping more than one adult male 
with the flock tends to restrict the annual production to what can 
be reared from one male. Experience has taught that it is not 
advisable to have more than ten or twelve females with one male. 
Sometimes a much larger number is kept with one gobbler, and 
the eggs hatch well and produce thrifty poults ; oftener an ex- 
cess of females is responsible for poor results which the breeder 

190 



MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS 191 

attributes to other causes. The average hen turkey lays only 
eighteen or twenty eggs in the spring. Some hens lay even less. 
Once in a long time a turkey hen lays continuously for many 
months. A turkey grower who raises eight or ten turkeys for 
each hen in his breeding flock does very well. To do much better 
than this the hatches must be exceptionally good and the losses 
very light. Those who grow turkeys for profit expect them to 
pick the most of their living from the time they are a few weeks 
old until they are ready to fatten for market. A grower will, 
therefore, rarely undertake to hatch more young turkeys than he 
thinks can find food on the available range. It takes a very large 
farm to provide food for a hundred young turkeys and the old 
birds which produced them, after the young ones are well started. 
On many large farms where turkeys are grown regularly, not 
more than seventy or eighty are ever hatched, and if losses are 
heavy, not more than two or three dozen may be reared. A 
farmer who grows from seventy to a hundred turkeys is in the 
business on a relatively large scale. Flocks of larger size are 
sometimes seen in the fall, but not very often. The ordinary 
farm flock of breeding turkeys rarely has less than three or four 
or more than ten or twelve hens. 

Shelters and yards. The wild turkey living in the woods, 
with only such shelter from the rigors of Northern winters as the 
trees afford, is perfectly hardy. Domestic turkeys are most thrifty 
when they roost high in the open air yet are not fully exposed 
to storms and cold winds. If left to themselves they usually 
select convenient trees near the farm buildings, or mount to 
the ridge of a shed or a barn, or perch on a high fence. A high 
perch to which they can mount by a succession of easy flights 
has such an attraction for them that it is a common practice 
to place strong perches between trees that are near together, 
or on tall, stout poles set for the purpose, where other trees 
or buildings form a windbreak. The turkeys, if at home, will 
not fail to go to such a roost as night approaches. One of the 



192 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



most important tasks of the person who has charge of a flock 
of turkeys is to see that the flock is at home before nightfall. 

After they begin to roost, young turkeys need no shelter in the 
spring and summer. When chilly nights come in the fall, late- 
hatched turkeys may do better housed than in the open. Tur- 
keys that are well grown and fully feathered do not need to be 
under cover in the winter except in protracted or very severe 
storms. Turkey growers who wish to have the birds partially 




Fig. 159. House and yards for stock turkeys on a California ranch. (Photo- 
graph from the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department 

of Agriculture) 

under control, and want to be able to catch any one when they 
need it, often have the birds roost in a shed or other outbuilding 
available for the purpose. Such places should be very well ven- 
tilated, or the turkeys will become soft and take colds. 

Yards are made for turkeys only to enable the person in 
charge of them to keep them under control when necessary. 
The principal uses of the yards are to confine the hens at the 
laying season and to separate birds from the general flock when 
there is any occasion for this. A great deal of trouble is some- 
times saved by having a small yard for such purposes. The 



MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS 193 

height of fence required depends on the size and weight of the 
turkeys and also upon whether they are in the habit of flying. 
A turkey that is not accustomed to fly may not attempt to go 
over a fence four or five feet high that has no top upon which 
it could alight. The same bird, when confined in a strange place, 
might, without hesitation, fly to a roof twice as high, because, 
although not in the habit of flying, it has the power to fly such 
a distance and can see that the roof offers a suitable place for 
alighting. A turkey in the habit of flying over obstacles will 
often go over a fence six or seven feet high without touching. 
A turkey hen that is laying will not fly as freely as one that 
is not, because the weight and bulk of the eggs in her body 
encumber her movements. For this reason a five-foot fence is 
usually high enough for a yard for breeding stock, if they are 
to be confined to it only as much as is necessary in order to 
make sure that the hens will lay at home. 

Feeding. The natural diet of the turkey, like that of all birds 
of the order of Scratchers, consists of a variety of vegetable and 
animal foods. Turkeys eat the same things that fowls eat, and 
apparently in about the same proportions, but their foraging 
habits are quite different. The disposition of the fowl is to dig 
for its food wherever it appears that anything is to be had by 
scratching. The turkey will scratch a little, but it prefers to 
wander over the land, picking up the food that is in sight. Fowls 
will forage from their house to the limits of their usual range 
and return many times in the course of a day. A flock of 
turkeys, if allowed to do so, leaves its roosting place in the 
morning and makes a wide circuit, often returning home in 
the afternoon from a direction nearly opposite to the direction 
they took in the morning. On their circuit, which is likely 
to follow the same course day after day, turkeys have their 
favorite feeding and resting places. Persons familiar with the 
route of a flock can tell where they are likely to be found at any 
hour of the day. If food becomes scarce on their circuit, the 



194 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



turkeys extend it, or go on an exploring expedition which takes 
them a long way from home. If night overtakes them at a 
distance from home, they look for a convenient roosting place 
and remain there. 

The feeding habits of the turkey make it especially valuable 
for destroying grasshoppers and other insects that damage field 
crops. To get an adequate idea of the great quantities of insects 




Fig. 160. Turkey roost in shelter of barn on a Rhode Island farm 

destroyed by a flock of turkeys, and of the waste food that they 
save and turn to profit by eating it, one should take careful 
note of the amount of food consumed when the turkeys are 
fed all that they can eat at one time (as when they are be- 
ing fattened), and from this compute the amount that a flock 
must pick in order to live, as many flocks do, from spring 
until fall almost wholly upon what they get by foraging. Tur- 
keys are much more systematic foragers than fowls, working 
more in concert. A flock advances in an irregular yet orderly 



MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS 195 

formation, taking all the choice food in its way, but not often 
tempted to side excursions which would disperse the flock. 

Many people who keep turkeys make a practice of feeding a 
little grain, usually corn, in the evening as an inducement to 
them to come home. When they require more food, they may 
be given whatever is fed to the fowls. Indeed, unless some 
arrangement is made by which the fowls and turkeys are fed 
separately, the turkeys may get the habit of being on hand 
when the fowls are fed, and drive them from the food. This, 
however, is most likely to happen when the range for the tur- 
keys is so restricted that it does not afford good picking. 

Breeding season and laying habits. Experienced growers of 
turkeys like to get their young turkeys hatched about the time 
when settled weather may be expected in the spring. Little 
turkeys are less rugged than little chickens, and are very sensi- 
tive to cold, damp weather. Although the hens may have been 
very domestic all winter, when they begin to lay they develop 
more of a roving disposition than is at all satisfactory to their 
keeper. They are very likely to want to hide their nests. When 
this is the case, and there is no yard in which they may be con- 
fined, they make a great deal of trouble. They often go a long 
way from home to find places for their nests, and make such 
wide circuits, and double on their tracks so often in going and 
returning, that the nests are very hard to find. There is nothing 
to do in such cases but to confine the turkey or to follow her 
day after day until the nest is found. If she is to be confined, 
it should be done as soon as she indicates that she does not in- 
tend to take one of the nests provided or to make one at home. 
When, in spite of efforts to prevent it, a turkey hen makes a nest 
at a distance and has laid some eggs in it before the nest is dis- 
covered, it is best to allow her to continue to lay there, but the 
eggs should be removed as soon as laid. The egg of a turkey is 
about twice as large as a hen's egg. The usual color is a light, 
slightly bluish, brown, with small spots of a darker shade. 



196 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Hatching and rearing. Turkey eggs are often incubated by 
fowls. A fowl will hatch the eggs just as well as a turkey hen, 
and may make as good a mother for a few turkeys grown on a 
small place. For young turkeys grown on the farm, turkey hens 
make the best mothers, because they take them to better foraging 
ground and remain with them all the season. It is a good plan, 
especially when there are more turkey eggs than the turkey hens 
can cover, to set some fowls on the surplus eggs at the same 
time that the turkey hens are set. Then, as there will rarely be 

a full hatch from all 
nests, the young turkeys 
hatched by the fowls will 
fill up the broods of the 
turkey mothers. A fowl 
will cover from seven to 
nine turkey eggs. As a 
rule it is better to give 
the smaller number. A 
turkey hen will cover 
from twelve to fifteen 
of her own eggs, or even 
a larger number, but the 
young turkeys will be 
stronger if the nest is not too full. The period of incubation is 
four weeks. Even when normally strong and healthy, little tur- 
keys appear weak in comparison with lively young chickens and 
ducks or the more bulky goslings. They may be fed the same 
as young chickens. 

It is the common practice to confine the mother to a coop 
from which the little turkeys can go to a small pen placed in 
front of it. The pen may be made of wide boards placed on 
edge, or of light frames covered with one-inch-mesh wire netting. 
The coop and pen should be moved before the grass becomes 
much trampled and soiled. The little turkeys can be kept in 




Fig. 161. Sheltered turkey nest. (Photograph 

from the Bureau of Animal Industry, United 

States Department of Agriculture) 



MANAGEMENT OF TURKEYS 



197 



such an inclosure for only about a week or ten days. As they in- 
crease in size, and as their wings grow, they fly over low obstacles 
as easily and naturally as little chickens scratch or as little ducks 
swim. Having once flown out of the pen, they cannot be kept 
in it or in any inclosure that has not a high fence or a cover. 
When only two weeks old, little Bronze Turkeys have been seen 
flying to the top of a five-foot fence and, after a few efforts, 
reaching it with seeming ease. No matter how contented old 
turkeys that produced them may have been in confinement, 
young turkeys become restless as soon as their wings and legs 
are strong, and, unless prevented from doing so, will begin 
to roam long dis- 
tances. They do not 
wait for the mother, 
whether fowl or tur- 
key, to take the initi- 
ative and lead them. 
If she is not dis- 
posed to rove, they 
start and let her 
follow. A turkey 
hen quickly catches 
their spirit and goes with them and keeps them together ; a fowl 
is likely to follow them reluctantly, allow them to scatter, and 
lose a part of the brood. 

When the little turkeys have reached this stage, the best 
plan of managing them depends upon circumstances. If there 
is little danger of enemies disturbing them, they may be given 
a light feed in the morning and then allowed to forage where 
they please, the person in charge looking occasionally to see 
that they do not go too far and, if necessary, bringing them 
back or starting them off in another direction. In case of a 
sudden, hard shower the turkeys must be looked up, and if any 
have been caught out in the rain and have been chilled and 




Fig. 162. Turkey brood coop. (Photograph from 

the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States 

Department of Agriculture) 



198 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

wet, they should be warmed and dried at once. The usual way 
to do this is to wrap the bird in a piece of old flannel and 
place it in an oven at a temperature of about 100 degrees, or 
near a stove. If this is done promptly, a bird that seemed to 
be nearly dead from wet and cold may be running about as 
well as ever in an hour. A large part of the losses of little 
turkeys is due to lack of attention in matters of this kind, 
or to delaying it until the injury cannot be fully repaired. 




Fig. 163. Turkey hen with brood. (Photograph from the Bureau of 
Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

After the young turkeys are five or six weeks old, they do not 
need such close watching. They are now so well feathered that 
their plumage sheds rain, and if they are thrifty, a little wetting 
will not hurt them. It is at this age that the symptoms of the 
disease called blackhead begin to appear, if it is present, and 
the turkeys pine away and die one by one. Blackhead is a con- 
tagious liver disease which affects fowls as well as turkeys, but 
is most fatal to young turkeys, because it is a filth disease ; 




[99 



200 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

as has been said, turkeys are especially sensitive to foul con- 
ditions, and the young of all kinds of poultry are more sensitive 
to such conditions than the adults. The germs of the disease 
pass into the soil with the excrement of affected birds and may 
remain there for several years. Young birds feeding on land 
containing these germs may take up some with their food. If 
the birds are vigorous and thrifty and the land is not badly in- 
fected, no harm may be done, but if the birds are weakly and 
the land is so badly infected that they are constantly taking up 
more germs, the disease soon develops in acute form. 

Many people suppose that if once they have serious trouble 
with this disease, it is useless for them to try to grow turkeys, but 
this is an error. The germs of the disease are distroyed by cul- 
tivating the land and exposing them to the sun and air. Three 
or four years of cultivation will rid a piece of land of disease 
germs, no matter how badly it is affected. The infection is not 
usually distributed in dangerous quantities all over a farm or all 
over the land on which the turkeys and fowls have ranged. It 
is principally on the land near the farm buildings. There would 
be very little danger from diseases of this kind on farms if those 
who feed the poultry would make it a practice to scatter food on 
clean grass or cultivated ground at a little distance from the 
buildings, instead of giving it (as too many do) on ground that 
is bare year after year and never cultivated. 

On a large farm the turkeys should not require close attention 
after they are two months old. A little food may be given to 
them in the morning and again in the evening, to keep them 
familiar with the person in charge, and if they are inclined to 
stray too far, they should be rounded up soon after noon and 
started toward home. Having started in that direction, they may 
be left to come at their leisure. They should pick the most of 
their living until the time comes to begin to fatten them. Begin- 
ning about three weeks before they are to be killed, they should 
be fed two or three times a day all the whole corn they will eat. 



CHAPTER XII 
GUINEAS 

Description. The guinea, or guinea fowl, is about the size of 
a small fowl. It is very much like the fowl in some respects 
but not at all like it in some others. Naturalists classify it in 
the pheasant family, but its present place in domestication is so 
different from that of the pheasant that a poultry keeper hardly 
ever associates them in his thought. In appearance the guinea 
is a unique bird. The shape of the body and shape of the head 
are both peculiar. The body is quite plump, the back nearly 
horizontal, and the tail short and much depressed. The neck 
and legs are rather short. The feathers of the neck are short, 
and the head is bare. The skin of the head and face is a 
bluish-white. The bird has a small, knoblike red comb and 
short, stiff, red wattles projecting from the cheeks. The plumage 
of the body is quite long, loose, and soft, and lies so smoothly 
that it appears much shorter and closer than it is. 

The male and female are of nearly the same size, and so like 
in appearance that the sex cannot be distinguished with certainty 
by any external character. The comb and wattles of the male are 
sometimes conspicuously larger than those of the female, but this 
difference is not regular. Although the voices of the male and 
female are different, the difference is not easily described, nor 
is it readily detected except by people who are familiar with the 
birds, and whose ears are trained to distinguish the different 
notes. Both sexes make a rapid, sharp, clattering sound, and 
also a shrill cry of two notes. The cry of the male is harsher 
and has a more aggressive tone ; that of the female has a some- 
what plaintive sound, which some people describe as like the 
words " come back, come back." 



202 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

The name "guinea' comes from the country of Guinea in 
Africa, from which the birds were introduced into America and 
Western Europe. The male guinea fowl is called a guinea cock ; 
the female, a guinea hen ; the young, guinea chickens. 

Origin. The guinea fowl is a native of Africa. It is said that 
there are about a dozen similar species on that continent. This 
species is abundant there in both the wild and the domesticated 
state, and also in a half-wild state. It was probably brought into 
partial domestication at a very early date, for it was known to 
the ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as to the early civi- 
lized nations of Northern Africa. It may have been distributed 




Fig. 165. White guinea fowls 

through Western Europe by the Romans. According to one 
account, some English monks had guineas in the thirteenth 
century. It is likely that they were rare in Europe at that time 
and soon disappeared, for the modern Europeans had never seen 
them until they were taken to Europe from the West Indies, 
where, it is said, they had been brought by slave ships from 
Africa. There is a tradition that the first guineas in America 
were brought direct from Africa with the first cargo of slaves 
from that continent. In the West Indies and in South America 
the guinea, after its introduction, ran wild. The natural color 
of the species is a bluish-gray with many small, round white 
spots on each feather. On the flight feathers of the wings 
these spots are so placed that they form irregular bars. 



GUINEAS 203 

Varieties. The only change that has taken place in the 
guinea in domestication is the production of color varieties. 
White sports from the original variety, which is called the Pearl 
Guinea, were developed as a distinct variety. Crosses of White 
and Pearl Guineas produced birds with white on the neck, the 
breast, and the under part of the body. These are called Pied 
Guineas, but are not regarded as a distinct variety. Birds with 
the original white markings but with the color very much lighter 
and sometimes of a decidedly reddish tinge have also been pro- 
duced by crossing. These are not considered a distinct variety, 
but are sometimes exhibited as such under the name of " Lav- 
ender Guineas." Some of the older works on poultry describe 
the Self-Colored Guinea, a gray bird without white spots, and the 
Netted Guinea, in which the original colors are reversed. The 
author has never seen these varieties, nor has he found, any 
mention of them in the works of later writers. 

Place in domestication. The guinea is as eccentric in nature 
and habits as it is unique in appearance. It is an ill-tempered 
bird, very pugnacious, and persistently annoys any other birds 
with which it comes in contact. While inclined to be shy of man 
and to resent his control, it likes to establish itself between wild 
and domestic conditions, where it is independent yet enjoys the 
safety from its enemies that proximity to the habitations of man 
affords. The hens are very prolific layers. This characteristic 
is said to be as well developed in the wild as in the domestic 
stock. Although they lay so well, they are not usually con- 
sidered desirable for egg production, because the eggs are small 
and it is hard to keep the birds under such control that the eggs 
are easily secured. The flesh and skin of the guinea are quite 
dark in color. The dressed carcass is not at all attractive in 
appearance, but the meat is very good. Many people prefer it 
to the flesh of the fowl. 

The guinea is not really a domestic bird. It is possible to 
keep a few in confinement and to rear the young with other 



204 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



poultry, but the adult birds are so noisy and vicious that very 

few people want them near the house or with other poultry. 

They would not be tolerated as much as they are but for the 

traditional notion that their noisy clamor keeps hawks away. 

Many farmers keep a few guineas, supposing that they are of 

service in this way. Those who have tried to find out whether 

the noise of the guinea really has any effect on hawks say that 

the hawks are just as bad where there are guineas as where 

there are none. 

The only way that 

guineas can be made 

profitable is by treating 

them as half-wild birds 

— letting them establish 

themselves in the woods 

where they can maintain 

themselves — and then 

shooting or trapping a 

part of the flock each 

season. The number of 

guineas now produced 
Fig. 166. White guinea hen with brood {n Ms way ig steadiiy in _ 

creasing in many parts of the United States where the winters 
are not severe and where wild animals which prey upon game 
birds are kept in subjection. 

Management of domestic guineas. As has been stated, guineas 
are so hard to control that few persons try to keep them in close 
quarters or where they must have particular attention. When a 
few birds are kept on a farm, they are usually allowed to wander 
at will ; the owner secures as many of their eggs as he can find 
before they spoil, and perhaps hatches a few of them under 
hens, for the guinea hens often lay a long time without going 
broody. As they are prone to hide their nests and are very clever 
in eluding observation, it not infrequently happens that, when a 




GUINEAS 205 

nest is found, it contains a great many eggs, a large part of 
which have been spoiled by long exposure to the weather. 

The first care of the breeder of these birds is to see that he 
has suitable proportions of males and females. Guineas are 
disposed to mate in pairs. Some poultry keepers who have 
observed them closely say that while one or more extra females 
may associate with a pair, the eggs of the extra females do not 
usually hatch well. Occasionally it happens that a small flock are 
all males or all females, and the owner does not find it out until 
too late in the season to get a bird of the missing sex. When 
a supposed guinea hen does not lay in the breeding season, the 
owner often thinks that she lays but manages to completely 
baffle his search for the nest. 

The period of incubation for guinea eggs is four weeks. The 
young birds may be managed the same as young turkeys while 
small, but do not need as close watching to keep them from 
wandering away. Those that are hatched and reared by fowls are 
tamer than those reared by guinea hens, but are not so hardy. 



CHAPTER XIII 

PEAFOWLS 

The peacock, or male peafowl, when matured and in full 
plumage, is the most gorgeous of birds. Many smaller birds are 
more brilliant in color. Many birds of various sizes and types 
have beautiful or interesting characters as attractive as those 
which distinguish the peacock. But this bird surpasses them 
all in attractiveness, because in it are combined in the highest 
degree size, beauty of form, beauty of color, and the power of 
displaying its beauties to the greatest advantage. 

Description. The adult peacock is so much more striking in 
appearance than the females and the young males, and old males 
are so often exhibited alone, that many persons suppose that 
the peafowl are distinctly unlike other domestic birds. The 
size, shape, and carriage of the peacock sometimes suggest to 
them a resemblance to the turkey gobbler, but the peacock's 
most striking characters seem so peculiar to it that the atten- 
tion of the observer is usually fixed upon them, to the exclusion 
of direct comparisons with other creatures. When, however, 
one sees a flock containing several females, or males in which 
the characteristic plumage is not yet developed, the general re- 
semblance between peafowl and turkeys is immediately noticed. 
The peafowl is smaller, slenderer, and more graceful than the 
turkey, and is a little more agile in motion. But if there were 
no old males present to identify the species to which they be- 
long, a person who was not familiar with peafowls, seeing a flock 
for the first time, would be almost certain to think that they were 
turkeys of a rare breed. Notwithstanding this striking general 
likeness, a close observer will soon note that in nearly every 

206 



PEAFOWLS 



207 



conspicuous character the differences between the two indicate 
that they belong to entirely different species. The voice of the 
peafowl is a harsh, piercing scream. 

The development of the plumage in the male at full maturity 
is like that of the fowl and of some pheasants. In all of these 
species in which the tail of the male assumes a highly decorative 
form, it is not the tail proper that is so developed, but the tail 
coverts and other feathers of the back, which in the male are 
long and flowing. In the peacock these feathers are very re- 
markably developed, both in form and in color. The largest are 




Fig. 167. Indian Peacock. (Photograph from the New York 
Zoological Society) 

sometimes a yard long. The stem, or shaft, is a marvelous com- 
bination of lightness and strength. For the greater part of the 
length of the shaft the barbs are so far apart that they do not 
form a web, but make a fringe on each side. Toward the tip of 
the feather the barbs are closer together, and at the extremity 
they form a broad web. The feathers of this structure growing 
next to the main tail feathers are the longest. The next are a 
little shorter, and thus the length diminishes until the shortest 
coverts are only a little longer than the ordinary feathers of the 
back. This feather formation is called the train. The train of 



208 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

the peacock is the most prominent peculiarity of the species, but 
there is also in both sexes another uncommon feather character 
— the curious little tuft, or crest (called the aigret), which grows 
on the head. 

The surface color of the peacock is a marvelous blending of 
purples, greens, golds, and bronzes of various hues. On the 
head and neck purple tints predominate. The train is mostly 
green with large, eyelike spots, or spangles, at the tip of each 
feather. The plumage of the female is a soft brown on the body, 
darkest on the back and shading to nearly white on the abdo- 
men. The brown often shows slight tints of purple and green. 
The neck and throat are a purple-green ; much less intense than 
the coloring on the male. The young males are colored like the 
females until they molt in their second year. Then they become 
much darker, but it is not until the next molt, in their third year, 
that they grow the characteristic train and take on the brilliant 
coloration which is their greatest attraction. 

The wild peafowls in different parts of Asia vary somewhat in 
color and are sometimes thought to be of different species, but 
they are evidently all varieties of the same species. Specimens 
of all are seen in domestication. One variety is almost black. 
Domestic life has had little if any effect upon the type of pea- 
fowls. A white variety has been produced, and from the mixture 
of this with the green variety, birds that are partly white are 
sometimes obtained. 

The significance of the terms "fowl," "cock," "hen," and 
"chick," or "chicken," in combination with the "pea" in the 
name of this bird is, of course, perfectly plain. Those who seek 
further meaning in the first syllable are puzzled until they con- 
sult the dictionary and find that the three letters as they occur 
here are not the word " pea," but a contraction of pazua, which 
was an Anglo-Saxon corruption of pavo, the Latin name of the 
bird. While the original meaning of the name is not known, 
the word came into the Latin language from the Greek, into 



PEAFOWLS 209 

which it had previously come from the Persian. Hence, the 
history of the name indicates that the distribution of the peafowl 
was along much the same lines in Europe as the distribution 
of the fowl. 

Origin. The peafowl is supposed to be a native of Java and 
Ceylon. It is found throughout Southern Asia and is said to 
be very numerous in India and Ceylon, both in the wild state 
and in a half-domestic state. It was known to the Jews in the 
time of Solomon, and to all the ancient civilized peoples of 
Western Asia, Europe, and Africa at a very early period. In 
the days of the Roman Empire a peacock served with the 
feathers on 1 was a favorite dish at the feasts of wealthy Romans, 
and this mode of serving the bird was continued in Western 
Europe for many centuries. At what time they were introduced 
into that part of the world is not known, but it is probable that 
they were distributed to the various countries soon after the 
Roman conquests. Nor is anything known of their first in- 
troduction into America. It is, however, quite reasonable to 
suppose that some were brought here at an early date by 
wealthy colonists. 

Place in domestication. In Europe and America the peafowl 
is now bred only for ornamental purposes. That seems to be 
its status even in the Asiatic countries, where it is most abundant, 
and its position has probably been much the same in all lands 
and in all ages. The use of fully developed peacocks for food 
at banquets was simply a display of barbarous extravagance. 
Although a young peafowl is very good eating, a male old 
enough to have acquired its full plumage would be hard, tough, 
and unpalatable. The peafowl is not prolific enough to be a 



1 Of course the bird was not cooked with the feathers on, but was skinned, the 
feathers remaining in the skin, and after the flesh was cooked the skin with the feathers 
was placed over it before it appeared on the table. Skinning poultry instead of plucking 
the feathers seems to have been quite a common practice in old times. As recently as 
between 1880 and 1890 the author heard of people who preferred it as the easiest way 
of preparing chickens to be cooked immediately. 



210 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

profitable table bird, and is too desirable for its beauty to be 
used for any other purpose. In this country peafowls are not 
common. Very few are seen except in zoological collections 
and at the principal poultry shows. The scarcity of peafowl is 
not due wholly to the expense of procuring them or to the diffi- 
culty of rearing them. Indeed, neither of these constitutes a seri- 
ous drawback to their popularity. The peafowl is its own worst 
enemy in domestication. It has a very savage disposition toward 
smaller birds, and in this way usually makes itself an intolerable 
nuisance to those who grow other poultry. Many owners of 
large farms, who do not keep turkeys, or who keep only a 
small flock, might maintain a small stock of peafowl with very 
little trouble. Although they are so vicious when brought in 
close contact with smaller poultry, they will flock and forage by 
themselves if they have room to do so. 

Management. The methods of managing turkeys apply at 
nearly every point to the management of peafowl. The peafowl 
matures more slowly and does not breed so early. The females 
are not fit for breeding until two years old ; the males not until 
three years old. They do not pair, but mate in small polygamous 
families — one male with from two to four females. The pea- 
hen usually lays from four to six eggs — rarely more than eight 
or ten. The period of incubation is four weeks. Young pea- 
chicks are very bright and active. They begin to fly when only 
three or four days old. If they are to be kept in an inclosure 
while very small, the sides must be high or the top must be 
covered with wire netting. Although so active, they are less 
independent than most young poultry, and follow the mother 
closely until she drives them from her at the approach of the 
next breeding season. Peahens are preferred as mothers, because 
their disposition is to keep their young with them much longer 
than a turkey or a fowl does. Next to the peahen a turkey hen 
makes the best mother for peachicks. 



CHAPTER XIV 

PHEASANTS 

The guinea and the peafowl were described as closely related 
to the pheasants, and as of limited usefulness to man both 
because of their ugly dispositions and because of their roving 
habits. The species of pheasants that are best known are a 
little farther removed from domestication by their extreme shy- 
ness, and have often been excluded from lists of domestic birds ; 
yet it is quite possible that some of them may become of much 
greater economic importance in America than either the guinea 
or the peafowl. 

Description. The most common kinds of pheasants are about 
the size of small domestic fowls, but have rounder, plumper 
bodies. There are also other characteristic differences. The 
head of a pheasant, except a part of the face around the eye, 
is usually feathered. This bare skin, called the wattle, is red 
in most species, but in a few it is purplish. The feathers of 
the neck are short, and the tail is depressed. Some of the rarer 
kinds of pheasants are as large as medium-sized fowls. 

Pheasants as a class are distinguished principally for their 
brilliant plumage. In most species the male alone has showy 
coloring, the females being very sober hued. In some species 
the male has a very long tail, corresponding to the train of the 
peacock ; in some the tail is wide and heavy, as well as quite 
long ; in others the males are feathered like the females. 

The name "pheasant" comes from the name of the river 
Phasis in Colchis, at the eastern end of the Euxine Sea. The 
term "fowl" is not used in connection with "pheasant," but the 
words "cock," "hen," and "chicken" are used as in other cases 
that have been mentioned. 



212 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Origin. The pheasants are all natives of Asia, where nearly 
all known kinds are found in the wild state. They are well dis- 
tributed over that continent, and are found in localities differing 
greatly in climate and in the character of the soil and of the 
vegetation. Some species live mostly at low altitudes ; others 
are peculiar to high mountain regions. According to an old 
Greek legend the first pheasants known in Europe were brought 
to Greece by the Argonauts on their return from the expedition 
in search of the Golden Fleece. A more probable story is that 
which says that they were introduced in the time of Alexander 
the Great. Pheasants were reared in confinement for food by 




Fig. i 68. Ringneck Pheasant 1 

the Greeks and the Egyptians, and also later by the Romans in 
Italy. Both the rearing and the use of pheasants in those times 
seem to have been limited to the very wealthy. From Greece 
and Italy they were gradually distributed all over Europe. 

History in America. The history of pheasants in America 
is much more fully known than that of most kinds of poultry. 
The first importation of which there is a record was made by 
an Englishman named Bache, who had married a daughter of 
Benjamin Franklin. In England at that time pheasants were 
propagated, as they are to-day, in a half-wild state in game pre- 
serves, and Mr. Bache expected that those which he imported 

1 Figs. 168-172 are from photographs of mounted specimens in the National Museum, 
made to illustrate " Pheasant Raising in the United States," Farmers' Bulletin No. jgo 
of the United States Department of Agriculture. 



PHEASANTS 2 1 3 

and released on his estate in New Jersey would soon become 
established there. In this he was disappointed. Others who 
subsequently tried the same plan met with no better success. 
For a long time the only pheasants known in this country were 
those grown in confinement by fanciers. 

The first successful attempt to establish pheasants at liberty 
on this continent was made in Oregon with pheasants brought 
direct from China. The United States consul at Shanghai sent 
some Ringneck Pheasants to Oregon in 1880. As most of these 




Fig. 169. Mongolian Pheasant 

died on the way, a second shipment was sent in the following 
year. In all about forty birds were liberated. The shooting of 
pheasants was prohibited by law in Oregon until 1892, when 
the stock had become so widely distributed and so well estab- 
lished that shooting them was allowed for a short season. So 
numerous were the pheasants at this time that on the first day 
of this open season about 50,000 were shot by the hunters. In 
many other states efforts have since been made, both by state 
game commissions and by private enterprise, to acclimatize 
pheasants and establish them as game birds. Some of these 
efforts have been quite successful. 



214 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Species and varieties. The relationships of the various kinds 
of pheasants are not positively known. Some kinds that are 
undoubtedly varieties of the same species are commonly classed 
as different species. The best-known of these so-called species 
interbreed freely. The rare kinds have not been sufficiently 
tested, either with common kinds or with one another, to show 





Mm ■• 




•'- "^bP 















Fig. 170. Amherst Pheasant 



whether they are species or merely varieties. The European 
pheasants, descended from the stocks which came in early times 
from Western Asia, are called by various names — Common 
Pheasant, Darknecked Pheasant, English Pheasant, and Hun- 
garian Pheasant. Two kinds of pheasants, of the same type but 
having more distinctive color markings, have in recent times 
been brought from Eastern Asia. One of these is commonly 



PHEASANTS 215 

called the Ringneck Pheasant, but the names "China Pheasant," 
"Mongolian Pheasant," and others are also applied to it. The 
second variety, also called Mongolian Pheasant, is said by some 
authorities to be the only one to which the name " Mongolian " 
properly applies. It is not quite like the Ringneck, but, like 
it, has a white ring around the neck. From Japan still another 
bird, called the Versicolor Pheasant, or Japanese Versicolor 
Pheasant, very similar in type, was brought to England. These 
three varieties from Eastern Asia have been mixed with the 
European pheasants to such an extent that there are now very 




Fig. 171. Manchurian Theasant 

few pheasants of the type common in Europe before their in- 
troduction, and good specimens of the oriental races are equally 
rare. The principal English variety at the present time is a 
Ringneck produced from the mixture. This is called the Eng- 
lish Pheasant ; in England it is also sometimes called the Com- 
mon Pheasant. The birds that breed at liberty in the United 
States are mostly of the Ringneck type. 

Although they are very beautiful birds, the pheasants thus far 
mentioned appear plain in comparison with the Silver and the 
Golden Pheasants (which are the most common of the highly 
ornamental varieties) and the Reeves and Amherst Pheasants. 



2l6 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



These are the kinds most often seen in aviaries and at poultry 
shows. There are many other rare and curious varieties which 
are to be seen only in the finest collections. Among these is 
a class called the Eared Pheasants, because of the little tufts of 
feathers which project backward at each side of the head, look- 
ing strikingly like the ears of a mammal. The pheasants of this 
class are mostly dull colored and quite docile in disposition. 

Place in domestication. The future place of pheasants in 
domestication is not so plainly indicated by their history and 

present position as the places 
of the guinea and the turkey 
seem to be. Pheasants seem 
to be more desirable, easier 
to control, better suited to 
confinement, and also better 
adapted to wintering out of 
doors in cold climates, than 
are guineas. The beauty of 
the ornamental types makes 
them very desirable to those 
who keep birds for pleasure. 
Because they are so much 
smaller than peafowl, and 
also because they are able 
to live amicably with fowls, 
they may be kept where pea- 
fowl could not. It is there- 
fore probable that, as people in America become more familiar 
with pheasants, and as they learn that the greatest pleasure and 
the surest profit in aviculture are to be found in growing a few 
birds under the most favorable conditions that can be made for 
them, the numbers of pheasant fanciers will greatly increase. 

In England pheasants are extensively grown in game pre- 
serves, for shooting and for sale as breeding stock to those 




Fig. 



72. Monaul, a Himalayan 
pheasant 



PHEASANTS 217 

who wish to stock new preserves. Where the birds are fed by 
a keeper, as they must be when they are very numerous, they 
become so tame that hunting them is not very exciting sport. 
Some that have been released in this country, and have lived in 
a natural state in places where shooting them was not allowed, 
have become quite as tame as the birds in the English preserves. 
Altogether the history of efforts to establish pheasants in a wild 
state with a measure of protection from hunters shows that it 
would often be practical for owners of woodland and waste land 
to establish and preserve colonies of wild or half-wild pheasants. 
Whether this will be done to any great extent depends upon the 
extermination of wild animals and upon the placing of proper 
restrictions upon the domestic animals (dogs and cats) which 
are destructive to land birds ; it depends also, to some extent, 
upon concert of action among the landowners in a community, 
in securing for themselves the use of the pheasants grown on 
their lands. 

The possibility of domesticating pheasants of the Manchurian 
type, and one or two other rare varieties that, when seen on exhi- 
bition, appear very docile, is also to be taken into account. The 
United States Department of Agriculture 1 has called attention to 
the fact that some of the little-known kinds of pheasants seem 
especially adapted to domestication. Even before that, many 
poultrymen, seeing these birds at exhibitions, had been im- 
pressed by their appearance, and had remarked that they looked 
like birds that would become thoroughly domestic. At the pres- 
ent time persons desiring to grow any of the more common 
varieties of pheasants for table use should first ascertain how 
the game laws of the state in which they live, and of any state 
into which they might want to send pheasants, would affect their 
undertaking. Sometimes the laws made to protect pheasants in 
a wild state have been passed without due regard for the interests 
of persons growing them in captivity. Errors of this kind are 

1 Pheasant Raising in the United States, Farmers' Bulletin No.jgo. 



218 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



usually adjusted before long ; meantime those who may inno- 
cently break a law find the situation very embarrassing. 

Management of pheasants in confinement. The breeding of 
pheasants on a small scale may be carried on in any place 
where suitable runs can be made for them. The first essential 
is a somewhat secluded site where the birds will not be subject 
to frequent disturbances. It should be near enough to the owner's 
dwelling to enable him to keep watch of what goes on in its 




Fig. 173. Coops and yards for breeding pheasants. (Photograph from 
Simpson's Pheasant Farm, Corvallis, Oregon) 

vicinity, yet not so near that the movements of the members 
of the household, as they go about their ordinary affairs, will 
disturb the pheasants. It should be where trees or bushes make 
a natural shade but not a dense shade ; a place where the sun 
and shade are about equal on a clear day is best. A light sandy 
or gravelly soil is to be preferred, and a clay soil should be 
avoided. If the land has underbrush on it, this need not be 
cleared from the space occupied by the run, unless it is so 
thick that it shades the ground too much. 



PHEASANTS 



219 



The house should be of about the same size and construction 
as would be used for a few fowls. A roosting place should also be 
made in the yard, for as a rule the birds will prefer to roost out- 
doors. The house is to afford them proper shelter from severe 
storms and during prolonged damp weather. For either a pair 
or a pen of a male and several females the yard should contain 
about 600 square feet. The fences inclosing it should be at least 
6 feet high, and the top should be covered with wire netting. 




Fig. 174. Young China Pheasants at feeding time. (Photograph from 
Simpson's Pheasant Farm, Corvallis, Oregon) 

The Silver, Soemmerring, and Swinhoe Pheasants mate in 
pairs ; the other familiar kinds are polygamous, and from one 
to five or six females may be kept with one male. 

Pheasants may be fed the same things as are fed to fowls, 
and in much the same manner, but there is one important 
difference which the pheasant breeder must carefully observe. 
Fowls will stand abuse in the matter of diet much better than 
pheasants will. In feeding the latter more attention must be 
given to providing regular supplies of green food, to having all 



220 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



food sound and good when fed, and to regulating the quantity 
given for a meal so that it will not lie about and become sour 
or soiled before it is eaten. 

Most pheasant fanciers use large bantams or small common 
hens to hatch and rear the young pheasants. The period of in- 
cubation is from twenty-two to twenty-four days. Until they are 
weaned from the hens the little pheasants may be managed as 
young chickens are, but with the same attention to variety of food 




Fig. 175. Fowls and pheasants in same yard on a New England poultry farm 

and to moderation in feeding that has been specified for the 
old birds. A small number with a good range on grass or in a 
garden will pick much of their food. Many of the older works 
on poultry which treated of the care of pheasants recommended 
for the young birds a great variety of foods not easily provided. 
Nowadays the most successful amateur fanciers feed either a 
mixture of the common small grains or some of the commercial 
mixtures which contain, in addition to these, a number of seeds 
and grains not much used by poultry keepers who buy their 
grains separately in bulk. Stale cracked corn, which is dangerous 



PHEASANTS 221 

to all young poultry, is especially to be avoided in feeding young 
pheasants. After the young pheasants are weaned, they must 
be kept in covered runs, or their wings must be clipped to 
prevent them from flying. 

A large pheasantry is operated on the same general lines as 
a plant where birds are grown in small numbers. The method is 
simply an extension of that just described. When only one kind 
of pheasant is kept, the inclosed yard is sometimes made very 
large, and a hundred or more birds are put together. This is not 
good practice with any kind of poultry, and is no doubt respon- 
sible for much of the trouble which those growing pheasants 
in large numbers have had. At aviaries where there are large 
collections of pheasants, including many rare and costly kinds, 
the yards are always made large enough to give the birds good 
sanitary conditions, and as a rule each family of adult birds, 
whether composed of two or more, has a yard to itself. 



CHAPTER XV 

SWANS 

Naturalists divide swans into a number of different species. 
Whether this division is correct is not known. The habits of 
swans, and the circumstances under which they are usually 
kept, tend to prevent the mingling of different kinds. As far 
as the author has been able to learn, there is no evidence which 
shows conclusively the relations of any of the supposed different 
species. The differences between them are in some cases very 
slight. Some of the decisions of the naturalists who have clas- 
sified slightly different kinds as distinct species are based upon 
examinations of very small numbers of specimens. Considering 
the apparent resemblances of the different kinds of swans in 
the light of what is known of species and varieties in fowls, 
ducks, geese, and pheasants, it seems probable that the true 
species of swans are fewer in number than the common clas- 
sification shows, and it also seems quite possible that all swans 
are of the same species. 

Description. The common swan, called the domestic swan, is 
about the size of the largest domestic geese, but appears larger 
because it has a longer neck and head and larger wings. The 
body is also somewhat longer than that of a goose of about the 
same weight, and the swan is a much more graceful bird than a 
large goose. It is sometimes called the Mute Swan, to distinguish 
it from the Whistling Swan, which is a very similar kind not 
bred in domestication. There are other slight differences between 
the Mute Swans and the Whistling Swans, but the difference in 
the voice, if it really is as great as is supposed, is the only one 
of much consequence in deciding their relations. The Mute Swan 



SWANS 223 

is not dumb. It sometimes makes a low, whistling sound. 
People are not agreed as to whether there is any real founda- 
tion for the familiar tradition that the Mute Swan remains silent 
until about to die, and then sings a t( song." Some people ac- 
quainted with the habits of swans declare that the swan is more 
vocal when dying than at any other time in its life. Others 
say that the idea probably arose as a result of some one's hear- 
ing a dying swan moaning in pain, as sick animals and birds 
often do, and concluding that it was uttering a series of sounds 
characteristic of swans in a dying condition. However that 
may be, the Mute Swan is distinctly less noisy than the wild 
Whistling Swan. 

Until 1697 all swans known to civilized people were white, 
and the swan was an emblem of purity of color. In that year 
a Dutch navigator visiting Australia found there a black swan. 
Afterwards a white swan with a black neck was discovered in 
South America. Had the subject of heredity been well under- 
stood before the discovery of these two swans that were not 
white, people familiar with the white swans would have known 
that there were colored swans in some unexplored country (or 
that they had existed in the known world in a former age), 
for white swans are not perfectly white at maturity, and when 
young they are gray. Neither is the black swan all black. It 
has white flight feathers, and its black color is a rusty black, 
that is, a black mixed with red. 

Swans are very long-lived birds, but stories of swans living 
to seventy or eighty years of age are not to be credited. It 
cannot be affirmed that the birds may not live as long as 
that, but the evidence in the cases reported is defective. The 
reports of swans living for fifty years are quite credible. The 
male and female swan are not readily distinguished, for there 
are no external indications of sex, and the birds use their 
voices so rarely that, even if there is a difference in the notes 
of the male and female, it is not practical to use it to distinguish 



224 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

between them. The only way to identify the sex with certainty 
is by observing the birds at nesting time. 

The name "swan" is Anglo-Saxon. Nothing is known of its 
derivation. The terms "cock" and " hen" are sometimes applied 
to swans as they are to many other kinds of birds. The swan- 
herds in England call the male a cob and the female 2, pen. The 
young swan is called a cygnet, from the French word for "swan." 




Fig. 176. Swan and nest 

Origin and history in domestication. Tradition says that the 
domestic swan was brought to England from France by Richard 
the Lion-hearted. As the swan is a migratory bird, still some- 
times seen in many parts of the Eastern Hemisphere north of the 
equator, it is possible that swans were known in England long 
before the reign of this king. However that may be, it is certain 
that, from about the time of the. Norman Conquest, the swan 
has occupied a peculiar position in England. It was regarded 



SWANS 225 

as a royal bird, and the privilege of owning swans was granted 
only to those in high station. At first the number of those who 
were permitted to own swans was very small, but it was afterward 
extended until, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, more than nine 
hundred different swanmarks were registered by the royal swan- 
herd, who had general oversight of all the swans in the kingdom. 
The swans were marked by branding or cutting the bill, this 
being necessary because they lived largely on the margins of 
uninclosed waters, just as in some of our Western states cattle 
live on unfenced lands. The right to own swans carried with it 
the right to keep them in such a place. 

Place in domestication. Although it has been bred in captivity 
for centuries, the swan is not fully domesticated. It does not, 
like the duck and the goose, so increase in size and weight 
when kept under the control of man that it becomes incapable 
of flight, but, like the American Wild Goose in captivity, it is 
prevented from flying by removing the first joint of one wing, 
the operation being performed as soon as possible after the 
young birds are hatched. The swan lives more on the water 
than either the duck or the goose. It subsists largely upon 
coarse aquatic grasses and plants, and is said to eat all kinds of 
decaying matter found in the water. 

In England in old times the swan was used as food by the 
wealthy, but its use for this purpose ceased long ago. It is 
now kept almost exclusively for ornament. Most of the swans 
in America are kept in public parks or on large private estates. 
Very few are reared here ; the supply is kept up largely by 
importations from England. The swan is not popular, because 
the birds are costly and are not prolific. Still the breeding of 
swans for ornamental purposes or for sale to exhibitors might 
be carried on with profit upon many farms. Under suitable con- 
ditions, swans may, at the same time, perform valuable service 
and make a valuable product. By consuming the kinds of food 
which they prefer, they clean ponds and keep sluggish streams 



226 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

open. Being so large and strong, and requiring so much coarse 
food, they are a great deal more servicable in this way than are 
ducks and geese. 

Management. When swans were abundant in England, they 
were kept mostly upon certain rivers and inlets of the sea where 
natural food was abundant. The climate of England is so mild 
that they can there obtain food in such places at all seasons. 
The colder parts of America do not afford conditions favorable 
to swan culture. Where the winters are long and severe, and 
streams and ponds are frozen over for months, wintering swans 
would be troublesome and expensive, but where the waters are 
open throughout the year, a farmer who had a suitable place for 
them might breed swans with profit. A pair of swans would cost 
about the same as a good cow, and might make about the same 
net profit. But there would be this difference : the cow would 
require a great deal of care, the swans very little ; the cow would 
eat salable food, the swans mostly waste food. By this com- 
parison it is not meant to suggest that a farmer might profit- 
ably replace his cows with swans. The object is simply to show 
how the possible profit from small specialities compares with 
the usual profit from a regular feature of farming. 

The methods of managing swans are much like the methods 
of managing wild geese in captivity. The principal difference 
is that the swans must have a larger body of water, and one in 
which vegetation is abundant. They are not as fond of land 
grasses as geese are, and like to float on the surface of the 
water, feeding on the vegetation at the bottom. Their long 
necks enable them to do this in water several feet deep. They 
need no shelter but a small hut, which they will use only in 
rare emergencies. After they have settled down in a spot, there 
should be no need of building fences to restrain them. As 
they are not able to fly, they will remain quite near their home 
unless food supplies there are very short. In that case extra food 
should be given them. Even when natural food is abundant, 




227 



228 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



it is a good plan to feed swans a little of something else occa- 
sionally, to attach them to the person who has charge of them. 
As every one knows who has seen the swans in parks, where 
visitors amuse themselves by feeding them, swans are very fond 
of bread. They will eat grain also, although, when not accus- 
tomed to it, they may at first refuse it. Their food is usually given 
either by throwing it on the water or by placing it in troughs 
from which the birds can eat while floating upon the water. 




Fig. 178. View of an English swannery 



The female builds near the water a nest of coarse stalks and 
small sticks. Sometimes this is reared to a height of several 
feet, and material added around the sides, little by little, during 
the whole period of incubation. Swans have been known to 
pile up nearly half a cord of material for their nest. From 
five to ten eggs are laid in the nest. The period of incubation 
is six weeks. As far as possible, interference with the birds 
should be avoided during the breeding season and while the 
young are small. When it is necessary to handle them in any 



SWANS 229 

way, the attendant should have at the start all the assistance he 
is likely to require. A blow from a swan's wing may injure a 
man very seriously. It is said that such a blow has been known 
to break a man's thigh. 

The young are gray when hatched and do not become entirely 
white until two years old. Even then many of them are not ab- 
solutely white, but show very distinct traces of reddish-yellow, 
especially on the head and upper part of the neck. There is 
a story that a young swan of a deep buff color was hatched at 
Lewes in England. 

If the swans with young must be fed, the usual practice is to 
throw the food upon the water. Stale bread, grain, and even 
meal are given in this way. It looks like a wasteful way of 
feeding, but the birds will get all the food. 

Swanneries are unknown in America. In England a few of 
those established many centuries ago still remain. The largest 
and most celebrated of these is at Abbotsbury. Swans have 
been bred here continuously for about eight hundred years. 



CHAPTER XVI 

OSTRICHES 

The ostrich is unlike other birds in many important characters. 
It is not a typical bird. While it has feathers and wings, its 
feathering is not normal, and the muscles of the wings are lack- 
ing. In the minds of most persons it is associated with the 
circus menagerie rather than with the poultry yard, but, as we 
shall see, this singular bird has a place in domestication and, as 
a useful land bird, belongs to the poultry group. There are two 
species of ostriches, but only one of these is of economic value. 

Description. The ostrich is the largest of living birds. A 
full-grown male standing erect measures from six to seven feet 
in height. The largest specimens weigh about three hundred 
pounds. As, in the atmosphere which now surrounds the earth, 
a creature of such size and weight cannot fly at all, the wings 
of the ostrich have become atrophied, and the muscles of the 
wings, which form the plump, meaty breasts of flying birds, are 
entirely wanting. Not only have these muscles disappeared, but 
the breastbone, which in flying birds is very large in proportion 
to the rest of the skeleton, and has a deep, longitudinal keel in 
the middle, is comparatively small in the ostrich and has no 
keel at all. The ostrich, having no power of flight, is dependent 
for safety upon its speed in running ; so its legs are long and 
strong, and the muscles which move them are very large. In- 
deed, there is very little meat on an ostrich except on the thighs. 
It can run much faster than a horse. Because its foot must be 
adapted to running at great speed, the ostrich has only two toes. 
Its neck is very long and slender, and its head is very small and 
flat. In such a head there is little room for brains. The ostrich 

230 



OSTRICHES 231 

is a very stupid creature, but it does not, as is commonly sup- 
posed, hide its head in the sand and imagine that, not being able 
to see its enemies, it cannot be seen by them. That is a myth 
apparently based upon the fact that, when in repose, an ostrich 
sometimes lies with its long neck stretched upon the ground. 




Fig. 179. Side view of male ostrich. (Photograph from the Bureau of 
Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

Since the wings of the ostrich are useless for flight, the flight 
feathers have lost the structure adapted to that purpose and 
have developed into beautiful plumes. The tail feathers have 
also undergone a similar change. These wing and tail feathers 
are the ostrich feathers of commerce. The neck and head of 
the ostrich are almost bare of feathers. .The body is covered 



232 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

with feathers, but not as densely as in most birds. There are 
just enough feathers on the body of an ostrich to protect the 
skin from exposure when they lie flat. The areas on the skin 
where there are no feathers are much larger than on other birds. 
The thighs of the ostrich are bare. The skin is in some varie- 
ties of a bluish-gray ; in other varieties the bare parts are red 
and the skin of the body is yellow. 

The crop and the gizzard of the ostrich are not separated as 
in other birds, but are joined ; the upper part of the stomach 
performs the functions of a crop and the lower part those of 
a gizzard. 

The male ostrich is usually larger than the female. The adult 
males and females are plainly distinguished by the color of their 
plumage., the body feathers of the male being black, while those 
of the female are gray. The plumes of both sexes are white or 
white mixed with black. The black on an ostrich is often of a 
brownish shade, and this is most conspicuous when it appears 
on the plumes. 

The bill of the male and the scales on the fronts of his shanks 
become a bright rose color in the breeding season. The male 
ostrich utters a guttural sound, called booming, which is said 
to resemble the roar of a lion as heard at a distance. The voice 
of the female is like that of the male, but very faint. 

The difference in the plumage of the sexes, although it is not 
complete until after the second adult molt, is noticeable much 
earlier. The females do not begin to lay until three or four 
years old. The males are not fully matured until four or five 
years of age. Ostriches are very long-lived. Birds whose age 
could be verified have lived as long as forty-five years in cap- 
tivity, and at that age were profitable as breeders and also as 
feather producers. It is believed by some of those most com- 
petent to judge such matters that under favorable circumstan- 
ces an ostrich might live a hundred years or more. Very few 
of the birds kept in domestication die of old age. They are 



OSTRICHES 



233 



so stupid, and their long legs, though strong for running, are 
so easily broken, that an accident of some kind almost always 
ends the life of an ostrich long before it has passed its prime. 




Fig. 180. Front view of male and female ostriches. (Photograph from the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

The name " ostrich " has an interesting history. The Greeks 
called this singular bird struthiori . This came into the Latin 
language as strutkio. In low Latin, avis, the Latin word for 
"bird," was prefixed to what remained of the Greek name, 



234 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

giving avis struthio. u Ostrich " is a contraction of this low 
Latin compound. So we have in this name a combination of 
two words from different languages, having the same meaning. 
The terms "cock," "hen," and "chick" are used with the 
name of the species, to designate respectively the adult male, 
the adult female, and the young before the first plucking. 

Origin and history in domestication. The domestic ostrich 
is the wild African ostrich in captivity. It is probable that the 
ostrich was familiar to the people of Northern Africa, and was 
known to those of the adjacent parts of Asia and Europe, in 
prehistoric times. In very early times ostriches may have been 
kept in captivity for their feathers, as they are now kept in the 
Sudan, but, until about i860, when the farmers of South Africa 
began to take an interest in the subject, we have no knowledge 
of any efforts to breed ostriches in captivity and to improve the 
quality of the feathers by giving the birds more nutritious food 
than they usually get in the wild state. The first stock used in 
South Africa was some of the wild stock found in that part of 
the continent. In 1882 the first ostriches were brought to the 
United States. 

Place in domestication. Commercially the ostrich is valuable 
only for its plume feathers. The extent of the development of 
ostrich culture depends upon the demand for ostrich feathers 
at prices that will warrant breeding ostriches to supply them. 
When the industry was first established in South Africa, ostrich 
feathers brought high prices and the business was very profit- 
able ; but so many farmers engaged in it, and the supply of 
feathers increased so rapidly that prices soon became much 
lower and have never since returned to the scale that prevailed 
at that time. 

The flesh of the ostrich is edible, but it is so hard and tough 
that no one would grow ostriches for their flesh. The egg of 
an ostrich is about as large as two dozen hen eggs. Ostrich 
eggs are said to be very good, but they are too large for ordinary 



OSTRICHES 235 

use, and the birds are so long in maturing that it would not 
pay to use them to produce eggs for commercial purposes. 

The breeding of ostriches for their feathers, however, may 
be regarded as a permanent industry, for there will always be a 
demand for ostrich plumes, but it cannot be developed as ex- 
tensively as if the product were a staple article of food. The 
ostrich farms in America are mostly special farms devoted ex- 
clusively to ostrich breeding. Most of these farms are owned 




Fig. 181. Ostrich eggs and newly hatched chicks. (Photograph from the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

and operated by companies. Some of them are stock speculation 
projects. In South Africa the industry is more in the hands of the 
general farmers, each of those engaged in it growing a few birds. 
The people of South Africa have tried to secure a monopoly 
in ostrich feathers by prohibiting the exportation of ostriches and 
by purchasing the best stock to be obtained in North Africa. 
Ostrich farming is practical only in tropical and semitropical 
countries ; the plumage of the birds is too scanty to protect them 
in the cold winters of temperate climes. In the United States 



236 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

nearly all the ostrich farms are in Southern California and 
Arizona, but there are some in Texas, Arkansas, and Florida. 

Management. In the places where ostrich farming is carried 
on, the birds need no shelter. They must be kept in inclosures 
fenced as for cattle. As ostriches are bred for their plumage, 
and that of the male is most valuable, the breeder does not 
object to their following their natural inclination and mating in 
pairs, but many males are so injured in fighting that they 
must be killed. This leaves an excess of females, and so two 
or more females are sometimes mated with one male. The 
birds are mated for breeding when they are about three and 
one-half years old. The object of mating them before they are 
fully mature is to prevent them from selecting for themselves 
partners contrary to the ideas of the breeder. Each mating must 
have its own yard, unless the place where more than one family 
is kept is large enough to allow each family the exclusive use 
of a part of it. Under such circumstances each group will keep 
to its own range. 

The natural food of the ostrich is grass and the leaves of 
shrubs and trees. In domestication it is usually pastured on 
alfalfa, or fed on alfalfa hay, according to the season. The 
alfalfa is often supplemented with grain (principally corn), and 
grit, bone, and shell are provided as for other birds. 

Most ostrich growers prefer to hatch the eggs in incubators, 
because by removing the eggs from the nests they induce the 
hens to lay more, and because the young ostriches are much 
easier to manage when by themselves than when with the old 
birds. When a pair of ostriches hatch their own eggs, the hen 
sits during the day and the cock at night. The period of in- 
cubation is six weeks. 

Young ostriches are fed the same as old ones. They are 
kept in flocks of fifty or more until about a year old, when the 
sexes are separated. The plumes are cut for the first time when 
the birds are between six and seven months old. Although the 




237 



238 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS . • 

process of removing these feathers is called plucking, they are 
not drawn out, but are cut close to the skin. The object is to 
get the feather immediately after it is grown, before it can be 
soiled or damaged in any way. At that time the quill is still 
full of blood. Drawing it out would be very painful to the bird, 
and might injure the wing so that the next feather that grew 
would be defective. The stumps of the feathers are allowed to 
remain until they are dead and dry, when they are drawn out 
easily. In South Africa the Kafirs draw the stumps out with 
their teeth. In about six or seven months after the stumps are 
removed, the new plumes are grown and the process of plucking 
is repeated. 



CHAPTER XVII 
PIGEONS 

The pigeon is the only species of aerial bird kept in do- 
mestication to provide food for man. It is also the only useful 
domestic bird that is able to maintain itself and increase in 
numbers in populous districts without the care of man. 

Description. The common pigeon is about the size of the 
smallest bantam fowls. It is a plump, hard-feathered bird, with 
a short neck, a round head free from ornamental appendages, 
a short beak, and short legs. The prevailing color is a dull, 
checkered blue, varying in shade from a very light blue to nearly 
black. The blue is sometimes replaced by red with similar varia- 
tions in shade. There are also white pigeons, black pigeons, 
and many birds in which all the colors that have been named 
are irregularly mixed. 

The male and female pigeons are not distinguished by any 
regular differences of size, form, color, or voice. The males are 
usually a little larger and coarser looking, and make themselves 
conspicuous by their vain posing and domineering ways, but 
none of these characteristics are reliable indications of sex. The 
natural voice of the pigeon is a soft, gurgling coo repeated over 
and over with monotonous effect. It is sometimes heavier and 
more prolonged in the male, but except in the Trumpeter and 
Laugher Pigeons, in which the voice has been peculiarly de- 
veloped, the difference in the voices of the male and female is 
not marked. Even in the two varieties mentioned, many males 
have such poor voices that the voice is not an infallible indica- 
tion of the sex. The most expert pigeon breeders are often in 
doubt about the sex of some pigeons until they pair. 

2 39 



240 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



The name " pigeon" is from the Latin pipio (to peep or chirp), 
and came into the English language from the French. The 
Anglo-Saxon name for the bird was probably dufa, from which 
we have the word "dove," which is still sometimes applied to 
pigeons. Dufa was derived from dufan (to plunge into). It 
seems probable that the name was given because of the pigeon's 
habit of dropping almost perpendicularly when descending from 
an elevated position. The male pigeon is called a cock, the 
female a hen. Young pigeons are called squabs, squeakers, or 
sometimes squealers. The word "squab," which means "fat," 

describes the characteristic 
appearance of the nestling 
pigeon ; the other terms re- 
fer to the noise it makes as 
it persistently begs for food. 
Origin. Domestic pigeons 
are all descended from the 
wild Blue Rock Pigeon of 
the Old World. Although 
many of the improved va- 
rieties have been greatly 
changed in form, they are 
all perfectly fertile when bred together. The Blue Rock Pigeon 
is found in the wild state in Europe, Asia, and Africa. "Fancy 
Pigeons," by James C. Lyell, the best authority on the subject, 
contains this statement : " The British Blue Rock inhabits 
the rocks and caves on our seacoasts, as well as precipitous 
inland rocks, and certainly the difference between this bird and 
a common blue flying tumbler is very little. Their color is iden- 
tical, their size almost so. . . . In the west of Scotland, where 
fanciers keep and show common pigeons, the wild Blue Rock 
domesticated is the bird so called." 

It is by no means certain that these wild pigeons are a true 
wild race. Considering the habits of the pigeon and its wide 




Fig. 183. Tame pigeons. (Photograph 
from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts) 



PIGEONS 



241 



distribution in England centuries ago, it seems certain that many, 
if not all, of the pigeons now found wild in the British Isles are 
descended from birds once domesticated. Rock Pigeons of the 



^%> M ■ Mini. ' ^ Qt 


Liiirni 








^ 






■*-:-^w 




_ _l 




Fig. 1S4. Flock of Dragoon Pigeons 1 

same type, however, are found in many other parts of the Old 
World and, whether wild or feral, are plainly all from the 
same original stock. The American Wild Pigeon, also called 
the Passenger Pigeon, which was once found 
in enormous flocks in eastern North America, 
is often erroneously mentioned as the ances- 
tor of domestic pigeons. The Rock Pigeon 
and the Passenger Pigeon are of different 
species and are very different in appearance 
and habits. The Rock Pigeon is what is 
called a shelf builder. 
It builds its nest on 
a ledge, or shelf, and 
will rarely even alight in a tree or a bush. 
The Passenger Pigeon is a wood pigeon, 
nesting and roosting in trees. 

Distribution in ancient times. The 
pigeon was domesticated at a very early 
stage of civilization. Like the fowl, the 
duck, and the goose, it was well known 
to all civilized peoples of antiquity. To what extent the distri- 
bution of pigeons in domestication followed the early migrations 

1 Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts. 




Fig. 185. Flying 
Homer Pigeon 1 



Fig. 186. Silver Runt 
Pigeon 1 



242 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 1S7. Swiss Mondaine 
Pigeon 1 



of the human race is not known. It is probable that pigeons 
were domesticated before the Aryan migrations began, and also 
that the domestic stock was sometimes taken by Aryan colonists 
to their new homes ; but it is equally 
probable that at various times in the his- 
tory of the earth people coming to new 
lands domesticated some of the wild rock 
pigeons which they found there. 

Improved varieties. Common pigeons 
are much alike the world over, and have 
changed little from the wild race, but in 
many different parts 
of the Old World the making of improved 
varieties began thousands of years ago, and 
in some places peculiar types were developed 
which were little known elsewhere until 
modern times. The varieties of the pigeon 
are so numerous that it is practically impos- 
sible to make a complete list of them. At 
the large shows in this country, classes are 
made for more than one 
hundred fifty named vari- 
% eties, in about forty breeds. In many of these 

breeds there are eight or ten principal color 
varieties, and an indefinite number of less 
popular varieties, specimens of which com- 
pete in a miscellaneous competition in what 
is called the (t any other variety class." There 
are probably nearly three hundred varieties 
of pigeons bred in America and England. On 
the continent of Europe the number is very 
much greater. The Triganica pigeon has one hundred fifty-two 
color varieties, and it is said that another variety in Germany, 

1 Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts. 




Fig. 




188. Splashed 
Homer 1 



Fig. 189. Blue-barred 
Homer 1 



PIGEONS 



243 




Fig. 190. White Hen Pigeons. (Pho- 
tograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, 
Massachusetts) 



not known in England and America, has one hundred thirty- 
eight color varieties. Where varieties are so numerous, many 
of the color differences are necessarily slight, and only those 

who know them well can 
readily distinguish the dif- 
ferent varieties at sight ; 
others are bewildered when 
they attempt to do so. In 
this chapter only the most 
pronounced color varieties 
and the breeds of most 
interest to beginners will 
be described, but some of 
the most interesting of the 
others will be mentioned, to 
illustrate the range of the improved types developed by fanciers. 
The Carrier Pigeon. The homing instinct — that is, the fac- 
ulty of finding the way home after wandering or being taken 
away from it — is found in 
animals of all kinds. In some 
kinds of animals it is much 
more highly developed than 
in others, and some animals 
of each kind have more of it 
than is usual with their spe- 
cies. It is well known that 
migratory birds usually re- 
turn to the same localities 
season after season, and that 
certain pairs often return to 
the same vicinity year after 

year and build their nests in the same places. When this instinct 
is highly developed in a wild bird, its habit of returning to the 
same nest is of great interest to those who observe it, but it has 




Fig. 191. Young Jacobin Pigeons. (Pho- 
tograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stone- 
ham, Massachusetts) 



244 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



no particular value. In a domestic bird the homing instinct or 
habit is of service because the owner of a bird relies upon it to 
make the bird return always to the place which he has provided for 
it, instead of taking shelter elsewhere or remaining where noc- 
turnal enemies will find it an easy prey. In the domestic land 
birds the instinct has no further use than this, but in pigeons 
which, while thoroughly domesticated, retain full power of flight, 
the development of the homing faculty makes it possible to 




Fig. 192. Muffed Tumblers with "saddle" color pattern. (Photograph from 
E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Massachusetts) 



use them as a means of communication when it is necessary 
to transmit short letters with great dispatch. 

It . is known that pigeons were used as messengers in war 
about the beginning of the Christian Era. An Egyptian bas- 
relief of about 1350 b.c. shows pigeons being released from 
cages just as they are now released in flying matches. The 
homing instinct is so strong in the common pigeon that any 
one familiar with its habits may easily suppose that pigeons 
were used to carry messages almost as soon as men had devised 
means of communication by writing upon any material which 



PIGEONS 



245 



the birds could carry in their flight. There is reason to believe 
that in very ancient times pigeons were bred and trained espe- 
cially for work of this kind in Egypt, Greece, and Rome. 

The pigeon which in England and America now goes by the 
name of " Carrier Pigeon" is a type developed as a messenger 
pigeon in Persia and from that country distributed to many 
parts of the world. As bred in Asia it was larger and stronger 




Fig. 193. Feeding pigeons on Boston Common. (Photograph from 
Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts) 

than the common pigeon, and had a cere, or convoluted mem- 
brane, around each eye and at the juncture of the head and the 
beak. It is thought that this type of Carrier may have been 
taken from Asia Minor to England at the time of the Crusades, 
but nothing definite is known of it in Great Britain until the 
seventeenth century. This old type of Carrier and several closely 
related varieties were used for messengers, and also in flying 
competitions, until the variety next described was developed. 
When the Carrier Pigeon was bred for carrying messages, no 



246 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

attention was paid to its color. Pigeon fanciers who' were not 
interested in pigeon flying, but liked the Carrier for its other 
characters, early developed many distinct color varieties and also 
gave special attention to the form and carriage of the bird and 
to the development of the ceres around the eyes and on the 
beak. The Carrier Pigeon is now bred only as an exhibition bird. 
The Antwerp Homer. Beginning sometime early in the last 
century, breeders of flying pigeons at Antwerp, in Belgium, 
developed a race which soon became celebrated for superior 
development of the homing faculty and for great speed and 
endurance. This race was at first called the Antwerp Carrier. 
When the invention of the telegraph 
made the services of pigeons as mes- 
sengers on land unnecessary, pigeons 
that could fly long distances were still 
bred and trained for competitive flying 
matches. In these, as a rule, they car- 
ried no messages ; the object was to see 
which bird would reach home first. So 

Fig. 1Q4. Flying Homer 1 , ., . ... ,, , 

gradually the term homer was substi- 
tuted for ''carrier," and the pigeons now called Homers, or 
Homing Pigeons, are the Antwerp Homing Pigeons. Good 
birds of this type are larger and stronger than the common 
pigeon, and have a bolder, more confident bearing and a more 
attractive carriage. They show their good breeding very plainly. 
Many of the pigeons called Homers are crosses or grades of 
the Antwerp Homer, and are not much better in any way than 
ordinary pigeons. 

The true Homer is also the most popular type of pigeon for 
the production of squabs for market. Its great prolificacy, strong 
constitution, quick growth, and large size make it a favorite with 
squab growers. As bred for flying or for market, Homers are 
of various colors, and the color varieties are not distinct except 

1 Photograph from C. E. Twombley, Medford, Massachusetts. 




PIGEONS 247 

as occasionally a breeder makes a specialty of producing birds 
of some particular color. Many pigeon fanciers breed Homers 
solely for exhibition. The Exhibition Homer has many dis- 
tinct color varieties — Blue, Silver, Mealy, Blue Checker, Black 
Checker, Black, Red Checker, White, Yellow. 

Tumbler and Tippler Pigeons. The flying powers of pigeons 
have been developed for other purposes as well as for travel- 
ing long distances. In rising or descending in flight a pigeon 
sometimes turns a somersault in the air. This trait has been 
developed in certain races so that many birds will perform the 
feat very often. These races are called Tumblers. They are 




Fig. 195. Squab-breeding Homers. (Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, 
Boston, Massachusetts) 

found all over Europe and Asia and in a few localities in 
America. The common Tumblers perform in the air, usually 
at some distance from the ground, the tumbling of individual 
birds being an occasional feature of the evolutions of a flock 
circling about in the vicinity of its home. From this common 
Tumbler more highly specialized types have been developed. 
The breeding of these types has become something of an art, 
and in some cases the sport of flying them has become a well- 
organized recreation. 

By breeding together specimens which performed well when 
flying, Tumblers were finally produced in which the tumbling 
propensity was so exaggerated that they could not fly but, after 



248 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 196. Clean-legged 
Red Tumbler 1 



a few somersaults, alighted on their feet. These birds were 
called Inside Tumblers, or Parlor Tumblers, to distinguish them 
from the common Tumblers, which required more room for 
their evolutions than any ordinary building 
afforded. Although they are incapable of 
flight, the Parlor Tumblers can rise a short 
distance before they fall. The Roller is a 
Tumbler which turns many somersaults so 
rapidly that each revolution of its body is 
made in a very small space. A high-flying 
Roller falls while rolling in the air. An In- 
side Roller turns over and over backward 
on the ground. 
Breeders of common Tumblers do not give them liberty, but 
release them from their loft only when they wish to see the birds 
perform, and, by feeding them immediately upon their return, 
coax and train them to return to the loft soon after being re- 
leased. A good performer is soon exhausted by tumbling, and 
is quite willing to return to the loft in a short time. But not all 
birds of Tumbler stock are good and persistent performers, and 
often birds that do 
not perform prefer 
liberty for a longer 
period to the food 
that is waiting for 
them in the loft. 
Birds have some- 
times been com- 
pelled to remain in 
the air for a long 
time. As a result of this treatment of poor Tumblers a type 
of Tumbler has been produced which will perform more or less 
when ascending or descending, but which, having risen to a 

1 Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Massachusetts. 




Fig. 197. Muffed, or Feather-legged, Tumblers 1 



PIGEONS 



249 




Fig. 198. English 
Owl Pigeon 1 



high elevation, will remain for hours circling over its home and 
perhaps occasionally flying away and returning. Tumblers of 
this type can remain in the air for five or 
six hours. In flying them for sport the object 
is to see which flock will remain in the 
air longest. The tumbling habit was gradu- 
ally bred out of the high-flying birds, and 
after a time many of them did not tumble 
at all. Such birds were then called Tipplers 
("tipple" having in some English dialects 
the meaning of "tumble"). The modern 
Tippler Pigeon is a bird 
in which the tendency to 
rise to a great height and remain there for a 
long time has been developed to the utmost, 
as the tendency to return home from great 
distances has been developed in the Flying 
Homer. Performing Tumblers and Tipplers 
are usually bred for performance without re- 
gard to color, and the colors in a flock of 
the same breeding may 
be, and nearly always are, 
various. Exhibition stocks of Tumblers and 
Tipplers are bred in many distinct color 
varieties. 

The Fantail Pigeon. The Fantail Pigeon 
originated in India. The fan-shaped tail, 
from which this variety takes its name, was 
developed by selection to increase the number 
of the large, straight main tail feathers. 
Normally a pigeon has from twelve to six- 
teen of these feathers ; in the ordinary Fantail the number 
has been increased to twenty-four or twenty-six. Many of the 

1 Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Massachusetts. 





Fig. 199. English Red 
Trumpeter Pigeon 1 



Fig. 200. English 

Saddle Trumpeter. 

Pigeon 1 



250 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 201. White Runt 
Pigeon 1 



specimens in which this character is highly developed have a 
much greater number of tail feathers. It is said that forty-two 
feathers have been counted in a tail. A tail in which there are 
so many feathers cannot be carried in 
the natural position ; it spreads, forming 
a major segment of a circle, and at the 
same time it is elevated until, in speci- 
mens with very full tails, the highest tail 
feathers stand nearly perpendicular. To 
balance the large tail carried in this po- 
sition the Fantail has to carry its head 
very far back. This makes the breast 
very prominent. The bird cannot fly 
well, and when walking about it appears 
to be strutting to make a display of its 
spectacular tail. Its appearance is in this respect deceptive, for 
it is a very modest bird and has difficulty in balancing itself in 
any other position. The Fantail is gentle and affectionate, and 
is the best of all pigeons for those who want 
birds for pets. It is bred in many color 
varieties. The White Fantail is the most 
popular, because it is the most showy and 
the easiest to produce with uniform color in 
a flock. 

Pouter Pigeons. All pigeons have in some 
measure the power of inflating the crop with 
air. In the Pouter Pigeons this power has 
been developed and its exercise encouraged 
to such an extent that in many specimens 
the inflated crop is as large as all the rest of 
the bird. Pouters were introduced into Eng- 
land from Holland several hundred years ago. They were at first 
called Croppers. The common Pouter is a large pigeon with 

1 Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts. 




Fig. 202. White 
Pouter Pigeon 



PIGEONS 



251 



long legs. It usually stands in a very erect position. There is 
a race of dwarf pigeons of this type, called Pigmy Pouters. 

Other important types. One of the most attractive pigeons 
is the Jacobin, which has the feathers of the neck turned upward, 
forming a hood which sometimes almost conceals the head. 
The Turbit and Owl Pigeons are distinguished by a frill of 
feathers on the breast, and by the peculiar beak and face, which 
are very short. The Dragoon is a large, showy pigeon of the 
Carrier type. The Trumpeter is distinguished by a crest, which 
greatly obstructs its sight, as well as by the peculiar development 
of the voice, to which it owes its name. The Runt is a very large 
pigeon bred both for exhibi- 
tion and for the table. Some 
squab growers prize it very 
highly ; others say that the 
smaller and more prolific 
Homer is more profitable for 
squab breeding. The use of 
a term commonly applied 
to undersized, ill-developed 
creatures as the name of one 
of the largest pigeons is one 
of the curiosities of nomenclature. The explanation, however, is 
simple. In England in old times common pigeons were called 
runts. The pigeon now called the Runt was introduced into Eng- 
land from Spain, and was called by early writers on pigeons the 
Spanish Runt, meaning the common pigeon of Spain. With 
the disuse of the term "runt" to designate the common pigeon, 
the term "Spanish" was dropped from the designation of the 
improved breed, and it became simply the Runt. Besides the 
Runt just mentioned there is another large pigeon, once called 
the Leghorn Runt, which belongs to the class of Fowl-like, or 
Hen, Pigeons, so called because in shape they are strikingly like 

1 Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts. 




Fig. 203. Fowl-like, or Maltese Hen, 
Pigeons 1 



252 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



fowls. The most familiar representative of this class is the 
Maltese Hen Pigeon. 

History in domestication. The history of the pigeon in 
domestication presents some very interesting features. Its use 
as a messenger has been mentioned. From very early times 




Fig. 204. Nun Pigeons 1 

people of privileged classes took advantage of the habits of 
the pigeon to grow the birds for their own use at the expense 
of the community. The Assyrians and some other ancient peo- 
ples considered the pigeon sacred to certain of their deities. 
Sometimes all pigeons were so regarded ; at other times and 
places only white pigeons were sacred, those of other colors 
being used by the common people. 

In medieval times in England, the lord of a manor, when 
leasing farms to tenants, reserved the right to let his pigeons 

forage over them. As pigeons live 
mostly upon grains and seeds, caring 
little for green vegetation and insects, 
the newly planted fields of the farmer 
were the favorite feeding places of 
his landlord's pigeons. The landlords, 
being able to keep pigeons without 
other expense than that of providing 
shelter for them, built large dovecots 
near the manor houses and kept their tables plentifully supplied 
with pigeons. At one time it was estimated that there were 
more than twenty thousand such dovecots in England. The 

1 Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Massachusetts. 




Fig. 



205. German Frillback 
Pigeons * 



PIGEONS 253 

destruction of crops by the occupants of these caused serious 
losses to the farmers and a great deal of trouble between them 
and their landlords. This form of protection for roving pigeons 
in agricultural districts was finally abandoned. 

No doubt the selfishness of landlords was originally responsi- 
ble for this method of protecting pigeons, -but the government 
of the country at that time also had something to do with it. 
Pigeon manure is very rich in niter, which in those days the 
government had difficulty in procuring in such quantities as it 
needed for the manufacture of gunpowder ; so it adopted the 
policy of regulating the construction of pigeon houses, prescrib- 
ing the method of disposing of the droppings to conserve the 
niter in them and appointing official inspectors to see that its 
regulations were observed, and collectors to gather the pigeon 
manure. It was much easier to do this when large flocks were 
kept by landlords than when an equal number of the birds were 
kept in small flocks by the tenants. 

Place in domestication. Although many farmers keep small 
flocks of pigeons, the pigeon in modern times is a city bird 
rather than a country bird. The strong flying types are all well 
adapted to an independent life in towns and cities, where, as 
has been stated, they often become a nuisance. This form of 
nuisance might be partly abated and perhaps prevented if city 
authorities would systematically and humanely exterminate the 
free flocks of common pigeons, and encourage citizens to breed 
improved varieties under proper control. 

Pigeon culture does not afford as many or as good opportuni- 
ties for profit as poultry culture does, but it is suited to condi- 
tions under which poultry do not thrive. A flock of pigeons 
may be permanently maintained by a city resident who has so 
little room for domestic birds that, if he kept poultry, he would 
have to renew his flock every year. A few pigeons may be kept 
by any one who can provide a nesting place for them where they 
will be safe from cats and rats. In this country the growing of 



254 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

squabs has been widely exploited in recent years as a profitable 
commercial industry. Near large cities where the demand for 
squabs is good, squab growing on a large scale is sometimes 
successful. Elsewhere the small flock that can be cared for in 
the owner's spare time is likely to be more profitable. 

The breeding of fancy pigeons is also almost wholly a spare- 
time occupation. The demand for fancy pigeons is small in 
comparison with the demand for fancy poultry, and a pigeon 
fancier's trade rarely grows so large that he can give his atten- 
tion to it exclusively. In Europe the breeding of pigeons for 
exhibition and sport is more popular than in America, but the 
interest is growing rapidly in this country. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS 

Almost every child knows something of the lives of the com- 
mon pigeons that are seen at large in both city and country. 
Some flocks have owners who take a slight interest in them 
and make rude provisions for their safety and comfort. Nearly 
all the country flocks, and many of the city flocks, are in this 
class. But there are 
in all large cities, 



and in some smaller 
places, many flocks 
of pigeons which no 
one claims to own. 
They build their 
nests in high cupo- 
las, in the belfries of 
churches, on shel- 
tered ledges under FlG " 2o6 ' Sma11 pigeon house and flyl 
the cornices or other projections of high buildings, and in all 
sorts of places from which they cannot be easily dislodged. The 
streets and areas of a great city afford daily food sufficient for 
vast numbers of birds. The principal part of this is fresh oats 
scattered by thousands of horses as they take their noon meal 
from pails or nose bags, and oats that, passing through the horses 
undigested, are mixed with the dust and dirt of the street. 
Very large quantities of food also fall on the streets from torn 
bags or broken boxes as cereal products are carted from place to 

1 The photographs for illustrations in this chapter, when not credited to others, are 
from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts. 

2 55 




256 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



place and handled in transportation. Then there are the crumbs 
and remnants of food thrown from windows by innumerable 
people who carry their lunches when they go to their work ; 
and besides these a great deal of waste food from the occupants 
of tenements, as well as from many hotel and restaurant kitchens. 
Much of this is thrown out at random, but often, when pigeons 
begin to frequent places where food supplies are regular, the 
people there take an interest in the birds and throw out more 
than they did before. From all these various sources an abun- 
dance of food is 
available for birds 
that forage on the 
city streets. 

The pigeons do 
their part in saving 
this waste food, but 
the people derive 
little benefit from 
the saving, because 
so many pigeons 
are not kept under 
control, where their 
produce may be 
taken and used when it is ready. Good management of pigeons 
consists in keeping them so that the owner gets all the benefits 
of ownership. Good management in the large sense requires 
that all pigeons shall be owned by some one who is respon- 
sible for them, and who keeps them under full control or under 
partial control, as the circumstances in each case require. 

Size of flock. A flock of breeding pigeons may contain as 
many pairs as can nest in the place where they are kept. Most 
pigeon keepers prefer lofts about 12 or 14 feet square, because 
in larger spaces it is harder to catch the birds when they must 
be handled, and in many ways the very large flock makes extra 




Fig. 207. House and fly for a small flock 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS 



257 



trouble for the attendant. A place with a floor area of from 1 50 
to 200 square feet will accommodate from fifty to sixty pairs of 
breeding pigeons. Except when undertaking squab breeding on 
a large scale, pigeon keepers usually begin with a small number 
and keep most of the increase until the full capacity of the loft 
is used. 

Quarters for pigeons. A pair of pigeons may be kept in 
a coop, box, or cage about 3 feet square, and 2 or 3 feet high. 
A cage 4 or 5 feet high, or one as high as the room in which 
it is placed, is still 
better, because it 
will allow the birds 
a little room to use 
their wings. If such 
a cage has a few 
perches at various 
heights, the pigeons 
will not seem to 
miss their liberty. 
Such close confine- 
ment, however, is 
not recommended 
except for those who cannot provide larger quarters, or who 
merely wish to keep one or two pair a short time for observation. 
A house about 6 feet square makes a convenient size for a small 
breeding flock of pigeons. In a place of that size eight or ten 
pairs may be kept. Attached to it there should be a wire- 
inclosed fly, as pigeon keepers call the outdoor compartment 
for pigeons. The size of the fly can be adjusted to suit the 
conditions and the available space. The larger the fly the better 
the pigeons will like it, but even a very small place where they 
can be much in the open air and lie and sun themselves is 
better than constant confinement indoors, which makes them 
anemic and greatly reduces their vitality. 




Fig. 



208. Small barn and shed arranged for 
pigeon keeping 



258 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Where the space for pigeons is very limited and there is 
room for only one small loft and fly, breeding operations are 
closely restricted. Most pigeon fanciers want at least two lofts 
of this size — one for the breeding birds, the other for the 
young birds that no longer need the care of their parents. With 
such facilities the work in the breeding loft goes on better, and 
promising young birds can be kept until they are well matured 
and the breeder can tell whether it is advisable to keep some 

of these and dispose 
of a part of the 
old ones. 

To provide for 
larger numbers of 
birds, either more 
lofts or larger lofts 
may be made. A 
breeder of fancy 
pigeons usually pre- 
fers many small 
compartments. A 
breeder of squabs 
for market makes 
each compartment 
as large as is convenient and builds as many as he has room for. 
Buildings for pigeons are constructed on the same plans as 
buildings for fowls. The furnishings of the pigeon loft are 
different from those of the poultry house, and of course 
the fly is always completely inclosed. Upper floors or lofts of 
buildings are used for pigeons to much better advantage than for 
poultry, but where there is room it is more satisfactory to have 
all quarters for pigeons on the ground floor. 

As the young pigeons remain in the nest and are fed by 
the parents until they are almost full-grown, each pair of old 
pigeons must have their own nesting place. As has been stated, 




Fig. 209. Old poultry house arranged for pigeons. 

(Photograph from Dr. J. G. Robinson, Pembroke, 

Massachusetts) 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS 



259 



the domestic pigeon is a shelf builder. So in arranging for nests 
the pigeon keeper builds shelves 10 or 12 inches apart, and 
divides these into compartments about 12 inches wide, thus 
forming pigeonholes. Because a hen pigeon often lays again 
and begins to incubate before a pair of young are ready to leave 
the nest, it is usual to arrange the pigeonholes in pairs. This 
is sometimes done by omitting alternate dividing boards, mak- 
ing each pigeonhole twice the size required, so that a nest can 




Fig. 210. City back-yard squab plant 

be made in each corner. Some people prefer to have single 
pigeonholes and to arrange them in double sections by making 
each alternate perpendicular board project several inches beyond 
the front edge of the horizontal shelf. When this is done, a 
pair of pigeons in possession of one side of a double section 
will usually claim the entire section and prevent others from 
entering it even when they are themselves using only one side. 
For indoor perches for pigeons individual perches shaped 
like an inverted V are most used. These are attached to the 



26o 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



wall, one above another, about 12 or 14 inches apart. The 
pigeons rest on the upper edge of the perch, and the sloping 
sides prevent their plumage from being soiled by birds roosting 
above them. In the outdoor flies running boards are placed 
along the sides to make exercising and resting places for the 
birds, for they usually prefer a shelf of this kind to the ground. 
Long perches are also placed in the fly when the running boards 




Fig. 211. Running boards in pigeon fly. (Photograph from Springer 
Brothers, Bridgeton, New Jersey) 

do not give room for all the pigeons in the flock. Out of doors 
the birds get along very well on long perches, but in the house 
each wants a separate perch. Feed hoppers like those used for 
fowls are used in pigeon houses. Drinking vessels for pigeons 
should be of the fountain type, exposing only a small surface of 
water, because if the vessel is open the birds will bathe in it. 
For the bath any circular vessel with a depth of 4 or 5 inches 
and a diameter of 18 inches or over may be used. 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS 



261 




Ventilation and cleanliness. The ventilation of a pigeon 
house is managed in the same way as that of a poultry house, 
by adjusting the openings in the front. Most kinds of pigeons are 
very rugged and, when fully feathered, can stand a great deal 
of cold. When a house is open in winter, some of the young, 
unfledged squabs may be chilled and die from exposure, but 
breeders agree that, on the whole, it is better to keep the win- 
dows or other openings for ventilation partly open at all times. 
While this causes some loss of the weaker squabs, it keeps the 
old birds in much better condition than when the house is 
tightly closed. 

To keep the loft 
looking clean and 
neat the droppings 
should be removed 
from the floor, and 
from all shelves that 
can be cleaned with- 
out disturbing breed- 
ing birds, at least once a week. Many pigeon keepers clean the 
houses oftener than that, but if the ventilation is good and the 
droppings are dry and firm, a house may go uncleaned for 
weeks or months without detriment to the birds. It is cus- 
tomary to keep the floor of the pigeon loft thinly covered with 
fine gravel, coarse sand, sawdust, or chaff. To prevent the wind 
from the pigeons' wings from blowing this from the middle to 
the sides of the floor, a small box is placed in the middle of 
the floor. Whenever it is possible, the bath pan is placed out- 
doors, because in taking a bath pigeons splash the water a great 
deal, and if they are given the bath indoors, they will make a 
nasty mess of the house floor unless it is perfectly clean. The 
bath need not be given oftener than once or twice a week. In 
bad weather it is better to let them go without a bath than to 
have them take one and get chilled before their feathers dry. 



Fig. 212. Constant water supply for pigeons 



262 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Handling pigeons. When a few pigeons in a small loft get a 
great deal of attention, they usually become very tame and allow 
themselves to be caught at any time. For catching pigeons that 
are shy, pigeon keepers use a net, called a landing net, such as 
is used by fishermen. A pigeon is held securely in the hand by 
grasping it so that the breast of the bird lies in the palm and 
one wing is held against the side by the thumb and the other by 
the fingers. A pigeon may also be carried by the tips of the 
wings by bringing them together over the back and letting the 
bird hang by them. 

Mating pigeons. The beginner's first serious difficulty in breed- 
ing pigeons is to get the birds .in his loft all mated and each 

pair attending to 
the work of hatch- 
ing and rearing its 
young. As has been 
said, the sexes can- 
not always be identi- 
fied by appearance. 
Most of the pigeons 
sold for breeding 
are young birds that have not yet mated. Some breeders and 
dealers are very expert in selecting males, and females, but all 
make some mistakes, and the average person makes a great many 
of them. There are two ways of selling pigeons. The most com- 
mon way is to sell the desired number of birds, the seller select- 
ing, according to his best judgment, equal numbers of males and 
females, with the understanding that if, when the birds mate, 
there is an excess of one sex, he will make a suitable exchange. 
The other way is to sell the number of pairs desired, guaran- 
teeing them as mated pairs — which means that the pairs are 
all known to be properly mated. The advantage of buying 
guaranteed mated pairs is that the question of mating requires 
no further attention at the outset, but the prices for them are 




Fig. 213. Small pigeon house and fly 




a. 






bo 

>-l 

as 
«d- 

N 

6 



263 



264 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



s^S 






so much higher than for those not known to be mated, that most 
beginners buy on the other plan. 

Where the flock is small and the birds are to be allowed to 
select their own mates, all that is necessary is to watch them closely 
until all are mated or it is evident that there is a surplus of one 
sex. Surplus males will quarrel persistently with the other males 
and endeavor to coax their mates away from them. The unmated 
males must be provided with mates or removed from the loft. 
Unmated females are not so readily noticed except when there 
are only a few birds in the loft, but by close watching they 

will soon be found. 
When a start is to 
be made with quite 
a large number of 
unmated birds, the 
best plan is to put 
the flock first in a 
different apartment 
from that in which 
they are to be kept 
permanently, and, as each pair mate and begin to build their 
nest, remove them to their permanent quarters. 

When it is desired to mate a particular male and female, the 
best way is to place them one in each side of a small coop with 
a wire partition across the middle. This coop should be put 
where they cannot see other pigeons. Sometimes one of the 
birds shows a decided antipathy to the other. In such a case it 
is, as a rule, useless to continue efforts to induce them to pair. 
In most cases, however, the birds will soon show mutual affection. 
When this stage is reached, they may be taken to the loft and 
released. Short coarse straw or fine twigs should be placed 
where pigeons that are building nests can take what they want. 
No nest box or pan is really needed, but many pigeon keepers 
use a nest bowl, called a nappy, of earthenware or wood fiber. 




Fig. 215. Neat pigeon house and fly 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS 



265 



Feeding. The food of pigeons consists almost wholly of grains 
and seeds. The principal grains used in America are wheat 
and corn (usually cracked corn). Field peas are also used quite 
extensively. While pigeons will eat the same kinds of ground- 
grain products as are fed to poultry, pigeon keepers rarely 
use such foods. They prefer to give a variety of hard grains 
and seeds. Those who keep large stocks of pigeons often buy 
separately the feeds which they use, and mix the grains to suit 
themselves, or feed them in such alternation as seems desirable. 
People who keep only a few pairs of pigeons usually find it 
more satisfactory to 
buy the feed mix- 
tures sold by dealers 
in pigeons' supplies. 
As a rule, old grain 
and seed that are 
very dry and hard 
are best for pigeons, 
and especially for ex- 
hibition and breed- 
ing stock. 

The most common practice is to give the feed in hoppers, 
keeping a supply always before the birds. This is done princi- 
pally because it is the most convenient way, particularly for those 
who are away from home a great deal. For them hopper feed- 
ing is really necessary, but pigeon fanciers seem to agree that 
when the birds can be fed by throwing on the floor of the loft 
or the fly, two or three times a day, just about the quantity of 
food that they need for a meal, they do better and the cost of 
food is less than by the hopper method. Unlike poultry, pigeons 
require considerable quantities of salt. The common practice is 
to keep it before them in the form of lumps of rock salt, one 
large lump being enough for the birds in a loft of ordinary size. 
Oyster shell should also be supplied. 




Fig. 216. An attractive squab plant 



266 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




How pigeons rear their young. After a pair of pigeons have 
completed their nest, the male seems to come at once to the 

conclusion that home duties 
demand his mate's constant 
attention. At the nest . he 
struts about, cooing and coax- 
ing, entering the nest him- 
self, then leaving it and 
plainly showing his wish that 
she should take the nest, 
If she goes away from the 
nest, he follows her with his 
head high and his neck in- 
flated. His cooing turns to 

Fig. 217. Homer squabs four weeks old scolding< Re pecks at her 

and will not give her a moment's peace until she returns to the 
nest. The hen lays one egg and, after laying it, spends most of 
her time standing on the nest until the second or third day after, 
when she lays another egg 
and immediately begins to 
sit. She seems to know that 
if she sat on the first egg 
before laying the other, one 
squab would hatch two or 
three days earlier than the 
other, and the second squab, 
being smaller and weaker, 
would have a hard time. 
The work of incubation is 
done mostly by the hen, the 
cock taking only a minor 
part. For about an hour in 
the middle of the morning and again in the middle of the after- 
noon he relieves her on the nest, giving her a chance to eat, drink, 




Fig. 2ii 



Carneaux squabs four 
weeks old 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS 267 

and take some exercise. Counting from the time the last egg 
was laid, the period of incubation is sixteen or seventeen days. 
Young squabs, like all other young birds that are naked when 
hatched, are ugly little things. They have apparently insatiable 
appetites, and their mouths seem to be always open. They are 
fed by the parents with pigeon milk, which is simply the 
usual food of the old birds softened in the crop. The pigeon 
has the power of disgorging the contents of the crop at will, 
and feeds its young by forcing food from its crop into their 
mouths. When they are well fed, the squabs grow very fast. 



Fig. 219. Dressed squabs. (Photograph from Dr. J. G. Robinson, 
Pembroke, Massachusetts) 

Young Homers four weeks old often weigh from three quarters 
of a pound to a pound, or even more, and are ready for market. 
Many of the fancy varieties of pigeons are hard to rear, because 
the abnormal structure of the beak or the interference of pecu- 
liar feather characters prevent the old ones from feeding their 
young properly. All the breeds described in detail in the pre- 
ceding chapter are known as good feeders. 

Pigeons will breed nearly the year round, stopping only while 
molting, but in cold climates many young birds die in the nests 
in winter. Those who are breeding for market take this as one 
of the risks of their business. If only half of the squabs are 



268 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

reared in winter, the profits may be as great as when the actual 
results are much better, because in winter the prices are much 
higher than at the seasons when squabs are most easily produced. 
Fanciers do not usually allow their pigeons to breed during the 
coldest winter months, but take the eggs from the nests or keep 
the sexes separate until spring approaches. The object of the 
fancier is to produce specimens having the finest possible devel- 
opment of form and color. He cannot do this successfully under 
conditions that cause heavy losses. The birds may grow under 
such conditions but will not have the superior quality that he 
desires, and so he finds it more profitable to concentrate all his 
attention upon the birds that he can produce when the weather 
is most favorable. 



CHAPTER XIX 

CANARIES 

The canary is the only common cage bird. There are about 
fifty kinds of birds that make desirable pets, but very few of 
them will breed in small cages, and many will not breed in con- 
finement even when kept in large aviaries. In the United 
States the number of kinds of cage birds is restricted by state 
laws which prohibit keeping native song birds in captivity. 
Such laws are necessary to preserve the birds. Before these 
laws were passed, great numbers of song birds were trapped 
every year to send to Europe, where the keeping of cage birds 
as pets is more popular than in America. Song birds from other 
parts of the world may be kept in this country, but most of 
them are so scarce and expensive that few people would buy 
them even if the canary were not a more satisfactory pet. 

Description. The common domestic canary is a small bird, 
about five inches in length, very lively and sprightly in manner, 
and in color yellow or a greenish gray and yellow. The male 
and female are so much alike that the sex cannot be positively 
determined by the appearance. Although it often happens that 
the male is more slender in form and brighter in color, the 
voice is a better index of sex and, in mature birds of good 
singing stock, is very reliable. The male is the singer. The 
female also has a singing voice, but it is so inferior in quality 
to that of the male that few people care for it. 

Origin. The domestic canary belongs to the finch family 
and is found wild in the Canary Islands (from which it takes 
its name) and in a number of other islands in that part of the 
world. The color of the wild birds is described, by some who 

269 



270 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 220. Tricolor 
Canary 1 




have seen them, as greenish-gray, changing to a greenish-yellow 
on the breast and under parts. Other observers describe the 
wild birds of some localities as brownish. 

The canary was introduced into Europe 
about four hundred years ago. As the story 
goes, a ship with a cargo from the Canary 
Islands, carrying several thousand canaries, 
which the traders thought might be sold in 
Europe, was wrecked off the coast of Italy 
early in the sixteenth century. Before the 
sailors left the ship, they opened the cages 
containing the canaries. The birds escaped 
to the Island of Elba and there became es- 
tablished in the wild state. From this colony 
of canaries birds were captured and distrib- 
uted to all parts of Europe and America, 
their superior song powers and adaptability 
to domestication making 
them popular wherever they became known. 
The wild bird known in America as the 
wild canary is the American Goldfinch. It 
belongs to the same family as the canary but 
is of a different species. It is of no value 
as a singer. 

Improvement in domestication. Nearly all 
the varieties of the canary were developed 
before the eighteenth century. The German 
canary fanciers turned their attention to de- 
veloping the song of the bird, the Belgian and 
British fanciers to making and perfecting 
shape and color varieties. In Germany the celebrated Harz 
Mountain Canaries were produced. These are simply common 



Fig. 221. Norwich 
Canary with hood 




Fig. 222. Yorkshire 
Canary 



1 The illustrations in this chapter are from 
W. Burkett. 



Our Domestic Animals," by Charles 



CANARIES 



271 




Fig. 223. Belgian 
Canary 



canaries carefully bred and trained for singing. But their ex- 
cellence as singers is not due to breeding and training alone ; 
the climate of the Harz Mountain region seems to be peculiarly 
suited to the development of canaries with 
beautiful voices. The finest Harz Mountain 
Canaries are produced at St. Andreasberg, a 
health resort noted for its pure and bracing 
air. The St. Andreasberg Roller is a canary 
trained to sing with a peculiar rolling note. 
Among fancy types of canaries the most 
interesting are the Norwich Canary, which 
is larger than the singing canaries and has 
reddish-yellow plumage ; the Manchester 
Coppy, a yellow canary almost as large as a 
small pigeon ; the Lizard Canaries (Silver 
and Golden), which have spangled markings on the back ; the 
London Fancy Canary, which has an orange body with black 
wings and tail ; and the Belgian Canary, a malformed type in 
which the head appears to grow out of the breast instead of being 
carried above the shoulders. 

Place in domestication. Most people who 
have canaries keep them for pets, and have 
only a few. In perhaps the greater number 
of cases a single bird — a singer — satisfies 
the canary lover. A few of those who keep 
canaries as pets also breed them for sale. 
Occasionally a canary fancier devotes a room 
in his house entirely to his birds and, when 
breeding on such a scale, has a great many 
to sell. The commercial side of canary breed- 
ing, however, is usually subordinate, except in the Harz Mountain 
district, where the breeding and training of singing canaries is a 
very important cottage industry. Canaries from this district are 
sold all over the civilized world. 




Fig. 224. English 
Flatheaded Canary 



272 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

Management of Canaries 

Cages. The common wire bird cages used for one or two 
canaries are so well known that no description of them is neces- 
sary. For larger numbers larger cages must be provided. Large 
cages cannot always be obtained at stores which sell the small ones, 
but they may be obtained from bird stores in the large cities, or 
made to order by a local mechanic. Indeed, any clever boy who 
has learned to use tools can make one at very little cost. While 
the small cages are usually made all of metal, the large ones are 
commonly made with wooden frames. A small cage has a remov- 
able bottom. A large cage must have two bottoms — the outer 
one fixed, the inner one in the form of a movable drawer. A 
metal drawer is easier to keep clean than a wooden one. 

Position of the cage. The cage in an ordinary room should 
be hung where its occupants will be comfortable and safe. The 
greatest foe of the domestic canary is the house cat. Some cats 
can be trained to let canaries alone, but very few can be trusted 
to make no attempt to get a canary when left alone in a room 
with it. When canaries and cats are kept in the same house, 
the cage should hang in a place from which cats can be excluded 
when they cannot be watched. The comfort of the bird will often 
require that the position of the cage be changed once or oftener 
during the day, according to the season or to some particular 
condition. Thus, a sunny window may be very pleasant at some 
times and too warm at others, or a bird may tire of being con- 
stantly in the same place. The bird keeper has to learn to know, 
by observing the actions of birds, when they are comfortable 
and contented, and must use judgment in placing the cage to 
suit them. 

Feeding. Canaries live mostly on ripe seeds, but they are also 
very fond of the leaves, flowers, and green seeds of many com- 
mon plants. Being such small birds, they eat only small seeds. 
The seeds most used as food for canaries are hempseed, flaxseed, 



CANARIES 273 

rapeseed, and canary seed, which is the seed of the canary grass, 
a plant indigenous to the Canary Islands. These are often sold 
mixed under the trade name of ' ' birdseed. ' ' Many canary fanciers 
think that it is better to feed the seeds separately, or to make the 
mixtures themselves, so that they can know just what the birds eat, 
and can judge whether any trouble which may arise is due to a 
wrong diet. Rapeseed and canary seed are considered the best and 
safest feed for canaries. They may be mixed in equal parts and 
kept before the birds at all times. Canaries like hempseed better 
than anything else, but it is so rich that, if fed heavily, it is inju- 
rious. When a mixture of seeds containing hempseed is placed 
in the feed cup, canaries will pick out and scatter and waste the 
other seeds, to get the hempseed. For this reason it is often left 
out of the mixture and given occasionally, a few grains at a time. 

Canaries are very fond of lettuce, chickweed, and plantain. 
They also like the green seeds of many grasses. These things 
may be given to them by fastening the leaves or stalks between 
the wires of the cage where the birds can reach them easily. A 
piece of cuttlefish bone should be placed where the birds can 
eat some whenever they want it. Cuttle bone furnishes them 
with salt and lime. 

Care. Canaries should have regular attention. Aside from 
having the position of the cage changed when necessary, they 
usually require attention only once a day. This should be at a 
regular hour, preferably in the morning. The cage should be 
placed on a table or stand, and the bottom removed, that it may be 
thoroughly cleaned. The best way is to wash it. While the 
bottom of the cage is being cleaned the cage with the bird in it 
rests upon the table. This is the best time to give the bird its 
bath. A shallow pan or dish containing about an inch of water 
is placed on the table under the bottomless cage. Some birds 
splash so vigorously that the bath must be given in a room con- 
taining nothing that would be damaged by the drops of water 
which they scatter. Some seem to understand that the harder 



274 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

they splash the more trouble they make, and to take delight in 
wetting everything about them. 

When the bird has had its bath, the cage should be wiped 
dry, the bottom replaced, the drinking cup rinsed and refilled, 
and the seed cup filled. If a bird is very tame and can be easily 
caught, it may be let out of the cage for its bath and for a little 
exercise. Many canaries will return voluntarily to their cages 
after bathing and flying around the room a few times. Canary 
fanciers frequently allow their birds the freedom of the room 
for hours at a time. Whenever this is done, special care must 
be taken that no unexpected opening of a door allows the bird 
to escape from the room. Neglect of this point often leads to 
the loss of a valued bird. 

Breeding. The breeding season for canaries is from February 
until May or June. The cage for a breeding pair should be a 
little larger than that used for a single bird, and should be firmly 
attached to the wall instead of hanging where it can swing. 
The nest is usually a small wire basket. For nest material cotton 
batting and cow's hair or deer's hair are used. Deer's hair may 
be obtained at bird stores. These materials are placed in the 
cage and the birds use what they want. The hen lays from four 
to six eggs. The period of incubation is two weeks. During the 
breeding season the birds should be fed, in addition to the usual 
supply of seed, a little grated hard-boiled egg with cracker or 
bread crumbs. They also need a supply of fine oyster shells. By 
the time the young are three weeks old they are able to leave 
the nest and to feed themselves. They should then be removed 
to a separate cage. 



CHAPTER XX 

DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 

Producers, consumers, and middlemen. The preceding chap- 
ters have treated of the characters and the uses of domestic birds, 
and of the methods of producing them. In this chapter we shall 
consider matters relating to the distribution of such of their prod- 
ucts as are staple articles of commerce. There are very few 
subjects of general interest that are as widely misunderstood as 
some phases of the distribution of market eggs and poultry. 
Every one uses these products ; many millions of people pro- 
duce them in small quantities ; but the consumers who are not 
producers live mostly in cities remote from the farming sections 
which have great surpluses of eggs and poultry to send to the 
cities, and so the work of distributing these products is done 
principally by traders, or middlemen. 

The modern developments of poultry culture have been in a 
very large measure due to middlemen and could not continue 
without them. In a large and highly organized population middle- 
men in many different capacities perform the services which in 
primitive or small communities may be performed by either the 
producer or the consumer. Consumers and producers are apt to 
think that the middlemen get more than their fair share of the 
profits on the articles that they buy and sell. The true situation 
and the exact relations of producers, middlemen, and consumers 
of poultry products are easily understood if we study the develop- 
ment of the existing methods of distribution from the beginning. 

How the middleman enters local trade. Suppose that a farmer 
brings to town 30 dozen eggs ; that the storekeeper will allow 
him 20 cents a dozen for them ; and that by peddling them from 

275 



276 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

house to house he can sell them for 2 5 cents a dozen : how much 
will he make by selling them directly to the consumers ? 

As an arithmetical example, considering only the factors which 
appear in the statement, this is a very simple problem. It is easy 
to compute that by selling the eggs from house to house, the 
farmer will make $1.50. But the farmer's practical problem 
in disposing of his eggs has some very important factors which 
do not appear in a simple arithmetical problem. Unless he had 
regular customers for his eggs, he would probably have to call at 
fifty or sixty houses to sell them. He might have to call at a 
great many more, and then might not succeed in selling them 
all. He would find that it was of little use to try to sell eggs to 
families that had not engaged them in advance, unless he called 
very early in the morning, before they had ordered eggs from 
some one else. If he succeeded in selling all the eggs, he would 
still have to consider whether it paid him better to spend his 
time, and that of his team, in selling the eggs than in working on 
the farm. Most farmers find that they cannot afford to peddle 
produce themselves, and unless some other member of the family 
can do it without interfering with important farm work, they sell 
such products as poultry, butter, and eggs to the storekeepers. 

Now take the consumer's side of the case. The ordinary 
family uses only 2 or 3 dozen eggs a week. If the eggs can be 
bought at the store for 25 cents a dozen, and at a farm for 
1 5 cents a dozen, there is an apparent saving of 20 or 30 cents 
by purchasing them at the farm. But in most cases it would cost 
the buyer more than 20 or 30 cents to go to the farm and get 
the eggs, and so he goes to the store for them. 

The storekeeper is the middleman, really serving both pro- 
ducer and consumer. Every one can see this clearly in cases 
where there is only one middleman. 

Additional middlemen. If the farmers trading at a country 
store bring to it more eggs than the people in the town will 
buy, the storekeeper must either sell them elsewhere or refuse 



DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 



277 



to take them. If possible, he will find a market for the surplus, 
usually by shipping them to the nearest large city. But he does 
not send them direct to consumers, for he could not deal with 
them any better than the farmers could with the people in his 
town. He may send them to a storekeeper in the city, but he 
is more likely to send them to some one who makes a business 
of receiving eggs from country collectors and selling them at 
wholesale wherever there is a demand for them. If the receipts 




Fig. 225. Unloading coops of poultry at a receiving warehouse. (Photograph 
from the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

in a city exceed the local requirements, the surplus will be sent 
to one of the great cities which are the principal receiving 
centers for produce of all kinds. The large receivers in the 
great cities distribute the eggs to retailers in the cities and also 
to jobbers and retailers in smaller cities where local supplies 
are inadequate. 

Thus between the producer and the consumer there may be as 
many as six or seven middlemen who in turn handle the eggs. 
At first thought it seems that so many middlemen are not 



278 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

necessary. But it is not a question of numbers ; it is a question 
of conditions. The number depends more -or less upon whether 
the middleman at any stage finds it more advantageous to deal 
with one next to him in the general series or to pass one or 
more and deal with another farther away. -In the United States 
prices of eggs are finally determined by the demand and supply 
in the large cities of the East ; the prices at other points are 
usually the prices in these cities, minus the cost of transpor- 
tation and handling. In periods of scarcity, however, there is 
a tendency to uniformity of prices in all large cities. 

The movements of poultry to market are made in much the 
same way as the movement of eggs. As a rule the same people 
handle both. 

How the demand for poultry products stimulates production. 
In the preceding sections it was assumed, for the purpose of 
showing clearly the relation of the middleman to both the pro- 
ducer and the consumer, that the movement of these articles 
from the country producer to the city buyer came about as the 
result of the existence of a surplus in farming districts. As a matter 
of fact the movement is produced by the demand in localities 
which do not produce their own supplies. One effect of the 
increase of population in cities is to cause farmers near the 
cities to grow more poultry and sometimes to establish special 
poultry farms. But as grain and labor cost more near the cities, 
the poultry and eggs produced near them must be sold at high 
prices. If the city people were dependent upon these local 
supplies, only the rich could afford them. 

As this is true of all perishable food articles, as well as of 
poultry products, the growth of cities was restricted as long as 
there was no means of bringing provisions quickly from places 
where they could be produced at low cost. When steam railroads 
were built, this restriction on the growth of cities was partly 
removed. Many cities then began to grow very fast, and the 
demands of their population for cheap food led city dealers in 



DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 



279 



provisions to look for supplies in the towns and farms along the 
railroads. Many such dealers had before collected provisions by 
wagon as far from the city as was practicable. These men could 
now greatly extend their routes, because, having collected a wagon- 
load, they could take it to the most convenient railway station, ship 
it by rail to the city, and go on collecting, instead of spending a 
day or more in delivering their load in the city. Very soon after 
railroads were first built, many farmers began to produce more 




Fig. 226. Fattening chickens in crates at a poultry buyer's warehouse. 1 (Photo- 
graph from the Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

poultry and eggs and to ship them directly to the best city market 
that they could find. As the demand for their produce was usually 
much greater than could be supplied from their own farms, such 
farmers often began to buy from their neighbors, thus becoming 
middlemen as well as producers. In many cases such men w r ould 
after a time find it to their advantage to move their headquarters 
to the city, and would ultimately build up a very large business. 



1 If the farmer sells his chickens without fattening, the buyer can fatten them in 
this way and so make an extra profit. 



28o 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



In nearly all farming sections, even those most remote from 
city markets, there is a short period in the spring when there 
is a large surplus of eggs and sometimes a period in the fall 
when there is more poultry ready for market than can be sold ; 
but the people in those places rarely make any effort to increase 
their production, and to extend the seasons when they have 
more than enough for themselves, until they have good facilities 
for shipping eggs and poultry and the demands from outside 
cause a marked increase in the local prices of these products. 




Fig. 227. Driving turkeys to market. (Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, 
United States Department of Agriculture) 

So from the city and the country, almost simultaneously, but 
with the demand from the city most active and pressing, the 
modern system of collecting and distributing poultry products 
has grown. At first poultry products were nearly all handled 
by men who dealt in all kinds of country produce. As the busi- 
ness increased, many firms gave their attention exclusively to 
poultry products. Then, when creameries were established in 
many places, the creamery was found a convenient place for 
the collection of eggs. The large packing houses which handle 



DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 



281 



other kinds of meat also entered this field and became a very im- 
portant factor in the development of poultry culture in the West. 
In the collection and distribution of poultry products the 
various agencies mentioned form a great many different kinds 
of combinations. The arrangements vary according to many dif- 
ferent conditions. From first to last every one who handles an 
article is trying to make all he can out of it, but most of the 




Fig. 228. A big drive of turkeys arriving at a killing house. (Photograph 
from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

middlemen deal fairly both in buying and in selling. Indeed, 
people cannot continue long in any legitimate business unless 
they are honest. As we shall see, middlemen are in a position 
where they are often blamed without just cause, and often have 
to take much greater risks than either producers or consumers. 
Losses in distribution. It has been said that the general 
tendency is to reduce as far as possible the number of middle- 
men concerned in the distribution of poultry products. This 
tendency often goes too far and overreaches its purpose of 
economy. The efforts of producers and country collectors to 



282 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



deal directly with consumers and retailers in the large cities often 
give them less profit than would be obtained by selling through 
the regular channels of the trade. The reason for this is that 
most producers and a majority of country collectors do not pre- 
pare and pack their poultry and eggs so that they will reach 
those to whom they are consigned in good condition and bring 
the prices which the shippers expected to realize. The losses 



p I 




s;mk 


rr / / ' Hi f: 


Bwm 


m * * * s 

IPPj 1 

1» i 


- ^H^, w 





Fig. 229. 



Candling eggs. 1 (Photograph from Bureau of Chemistry, United 
States Department of Agriculture) 



due to improper handling of eggs and poultry by producers and 
small collectors are enormous, undoubtedly amounting to more 
than $100,000,000 a year in the United States. 

To place eggs and poultry in the hands of consumers in 
strictly first-class condition, they must be handled with great care 
at every stage of preparation and distribution. Eggs must be 
gathered while perfectly fresh, kept in a cool place where no bad 
odors will reach them, and protected from heat and frost, as well 



1 The man is posing for the photograph. When he works, the room must be dark 
except for the covered light used in candling. 



DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 283 

as from breakage, when being moved from place to place. If 
the producer is careless about any of these points, many of his 
eggs will be tainted or stale or beginning to rot when they are 
only a few days old, and though he may call them fresh eggs 
and try to sell them as such, he will not get the highest price 
for them. The small collectors are also likely to be careless in 
handling eggs, and to ship them to receivers in bad condition. 

The receivers in the cities, whose whole business is in perish- 
able products, cannot afford to handle goods in this slipshod way. 
They candle the eggs that are forwarded to them to determine 
the quality, and pay for eggs not only according to their external 
appearance, but also the appearance and condition of the pack- 
age in which they are received. Candling eggs consists in passing 
them before a bright light, as in testing to determine the fertility 
of eggs that are being incubated. When the egg is held before a 
light, the expert candler can tell in an instant whether it is fresh 
and good and, if not, just what is wrong with it. Except when 
kept at almost freezing temperature, eggs that have begun to 
decompose continue to deteriorate quite rapidly. Sometimes a 
lot of eggs is candled several times and the bad ones removed, 
before it reaches the last dealer who handles it. 

Market poultry and pigeons are sold both alive and dead. 
Most dead poultry is dressed (that is, has the feathers re- 
moved), but pigeons and guineas are often marketed dead with- 
out plucking, and occasionally turkeys are treated in the same 
way. Live birds lose weight in transportation, especially when 
they are shipped in crowded and badly ventilated coops. Fre- 
quently many birds in a shipment die before their journey is 
over. Because of such losses, and because the price per pound 
of the best dressed poultry is usually much higher than the 
price per pound of the best live poultry, the impression that 
it is more profitable for a producer to dress his poultry is wide- 
spread. The result is that a great many people who have poultry 
to sell dress it just as they would to use at home and, putting 



284 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

it into a box or a barrel, ship it to a market where the prices are 
high, expecting to get the highest price for it. A large part of 
such poultry arrives on the market in such a condition that it is 
hard to sell at any price, and much of it has to be thrown away. 
Birds that are to be marketed should be kept without food or 
water for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours before killing. 
The object of this is to have the crop, gizzard, and intestines 

entirely empty. The killing is 
done by making a small, deep 
cut, that will at the same time 
penetrate the brain (making the 
bird unconscious) and sever one 
or two veins, thus letting the 
blood flow freely. This cut is 
usually made in the roof of the 
mouth, but sometimes in the 
neck. The former method is 
preferred because it leaves no 
wound exposed to the air. The 
common practice in picking poul- 
try for home use is to scald the 
bird in water just below the boil- 
ing temperature. When this is 
done just right, the results are 
very good ; the feathers come off easily and the skin is not 
damaged. But if the bird is not held in the scalding water long 
enough, the feathers are hard to remove and the skin may be torn 
in several places in the process. If the bird is held in the water 
too long, the skin will be partly cooked. If it is scalded before 
it has been properly bled, the hot water will turn the skin red. 
The defects in scalded poultry do not show badly at first, and if 
it is packed and shipped at once, the shipper may think that it 




Fig. 230. Barrel of dressed poultry 
opened on arrival at its destination. 1 
(Photograph from Bureau of Chem- 
istry, United States Department of 
Agriculture) 



1 Note the large piece of ice remaining.- If the ice should give out on the way, the 
poultry would spoil. 



DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 



285 



was in very good condition ; but if he could see it when the re- 
ceiver unpacks it, he would be surprised to find how many 
blemishes there were on it and how poor it looked. Removing 
the feathers without scalding is called dry picking. It is an 
art which requires considerable 
practice. The novice who tries 
it usually tears the skin of the 
birds badly. 

In order to reach the market 
in good condition, poultry must 
not only be properly killed and 
picked, but each carcass must 
be cooled as quickly as possible, 
to remove the animal heat that 
remains in it. This is done 
either by hanging the carcasses 
in a very cool place or by put- 
ting them in cold water. Meat 
of all kinds that is cooled im- 
mediately after killing will keep 
much longer than if cooling is 
neglected. 

There are so many details 
which must have attention in 
dressing poultry for shipment, 
that it usually pays both pro- 
ducers and small collectors to 
sell poultry alive to those who 
have better facilities for hand- 
ling it and whose operations are on such a scale that they 
can employ experts for all parts of the work of preparation. 

Cold storage of poultry products. So abundant are the sup- 
plies of eggs in the spring, and of some kinds of dressed poultry 
in the summer, fall, and early winter, that large quantities could 




Fig. 231. A badly dressed and a well- 
dressed fowl. (Photograph from 
Bureau of Chemistry, United States 
Department of Agriculture) 



286 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

not be sold at any price at seasons of plenty if there were no 
way of keeping them until a season of scarcity. For about half 
a century after the production of eggs and poultry began to 
receive special attention in this country, the profits of the ordi- 
nary producer were severely cut every spring and fall, because 
the market was overstocked. Consumers derived little benefit 
from this situation, because they could not use the surplus be- 
fore it spoiled. The popular idea of the way to remedy the 
conditions was to have hens lay when eggs were scarce, and to 
have poultry ready for sale when supplies were insufficient. 
Experience, however, has shown that it is practically impossible 
to have a very large proportion of things of this kind produced 
out of their natural season. The relatively small numbers of 
people who succeed in doing so make very good profits, but the 
masses of producers and consumers are not benefited. 

The solution of the problem of carrying the surplus of a 
season of abundance to a season of scarcity was discovered when 
methods of making ice artificially were perfected and it was 
found that the equipment used in manufacturing ice could be 
used to cool, to any desired degree, rooms for the storage of 
perishable produce. This form of refrigeration was at first used 
in place of the ordinary method (with natural ice), to keep goods 
for short periods. Much larger quantities could be taken care 
of in this way when for any reason a market was temporarily 
overstocked. 

For hundreds of years it had been quite a common practice 
to preserve eggs in various ways. By packing them in salt, or 
in salt brine, or in limewater, eggs may be kept in very good 
condition for several months, and sometimes for nearly a year. 
As limed and pickled eggs were regularly sold in the mar- 
kets, every dealer in eggs at once saw the possibilities of cold 
storage as a factor in the market egg trade. Wherever there 
was a storage house, dealers began to buy eggs when prices were 
low, and store them to sell when prices were high. At first a 



DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 



287 



great many of those who stored eggs lost money on them, either 
by the eggs spoiling in storage or because they kept the eggs 
too long, but after a few years' experience the operators of cold- 
storage plants learned the best temperatures for keeping the 
different kinds of produce and the best methods of arranging 
different articles in the chambers of the storage warehouses. 
They found that eggs kept best at 34 degrees Fahrenheit, that 
poultry must be frozen hard, and that the temperature in a 




Fig. 232. Dressed fowls cooling on racks in dry-cooling room. (Photograph 
from Bureau of Chemistry, United States Department of Agriculture) 

storage chamber must not be allowed to vary. Those who were 
putting eggs and poultry in cold storage found that it did not 
pay to store produce that was not perfectly sound and good, 
and that products which had been in cold storage must be used 
promptly after being taken out, and -also that they must plan 
their sales to have all stored goods sold before the new crop 
began to come in, or they would lose money. 

The development of cold-storage methods and their extensive 
use have been of great benefit to producers and consumers, as 



288 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

well as to distributors of perishable food products. The storing 
of such products is a legitimate form of speculative business. It 
prevents waste and loss. The demand for eggs and poultry to 
go into cold storage raises the price at seasons of plenty and 
makes a good market for all eggs and poultry that are fit to 
store. The eggs and poultry that have been stored furnish 
consumers with supplies at reasonable prices for much longer 
seasons. As a rule supplies in storage are not kept there for 
very long periods. Speculators who want to be on the safe side 
plan very carefully so that most, if not all, of the stuff that they 
have stored shall be sold before new supplies become abundant 
in the market. To do this they have to watch very closely every 
condition affecting the markets, and to use good judgment in 
selling. Most of them do not, as is popularly supposed, hold their 
entire stock for the period when prices are highest. If they did, 
all would lose. Eggs begin to come out of storage about midsum- 
mer, and are withdrawn gradually for about six months. By far 
the greater part of the poultry stored goes into the warehouses 
in the fall and begins to come out soon after the winter holidays. 

Within the limits of the time that goods may be carried in 
cold storage profitably, long storage has no more bad effects on 
eggs and poultry than refrigeration for short periods. Cold- 
storage products are usually of better than average quality if 
used immediately upon being withdrawn from storage. 

Methods of selling at retail. For convenience in handling 
and counting them in quantities, eggs are packed in cases con- 
taining thirty dozen each, and wholesale transactions in eggs are 
by the case, but with the price usually quoted by the dozen. 
Consumers who use large quantities of eggs buy them by the 
case. The ordinary consumer buys them by the dozen. There 
is a widespread impression that, inasmuch as eggs vary greatly 
in size, the practice of selling them by count is not fair to the 
consumer. This feeling sometimes goes so far that laws are 
proposed, and even passed, requiring that eggs shall be sold by 



DISTRIBUTION OF MARKET PRODUCTS 289 

weight. Such a law does not remain long in force, because weigh- 
ing small quantities of eggs is troublesome and the greater number 
of consumers prefer to buy them by the dozen. In fact, while eggs 
are nominally sold by count both at wholesale and at retail, they are 
usually assorted according to size, and the prices graduated to suit. 
Considering size, condition, quality, and color of shell, as many as 
ten grades of eggs are sometimes made. Although the color of the 
shell of an egg has no relation whatever to its palatability or its 
nutritive value, eggs of a certain color sometimes command a pre- 
mium. Thus, in New York City white eggs of the best grades will 
bring from five to ten cents a dozen more than brown eggs of 
equal quality, while in Boston the situation is exactly reversed. 

When most of the poultry of each kind in any market is of 
about the same size and quality, it is customary to sell live poultry 
at wholesale at a uniform price by the dozen, and to sell at retail 
by the piece or by the pair. But as soon as any considerable 
part of the poultry of any kind in a market is larger than the 
general run of supplies, a difference is made, in the prices per 
dozen or per piece or per pair, between small birds and large 
ones. If the size of the largest specimens further increases, the 
range of weights becomes too great to be classified in this way, 
and selling by weight soon becomes the common practice. Con- 
ditions are the same for dead poultry, except that the change to 
selling by weight comes more quickly. 

In preparing poultry for market by the method that has been 
described the head and feet were left on and the internal organs 
were not removed. The reason for this is that poultry keeps 
much better in this state. Removing these parts exposes the 
flesh at several places to the action of the air and of bacteria, 
which cause putrefaction. In many markets in poultry-producing 
sections it is customary to sell poultry drawn and with the head 
and feet off. In places where most of the poultry comes from a 
distance the waste parts of the carcass are not removed until it 
is bought by the consumer. Some people who buy in this way 



290 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

think that they are being defrauded if the marketman weighs 
the bird before removing the offal. Sometimes, to satisfy such 
a customer, a dealer removes the offal before weighing, and the 
customer cheerfully pays a higher rate per pound, feeling that 
at any rate he is getting just what he pays for when he insists 
on having it done in this way. As far as the cost is concerned, 
it makes no difference to the consumer at what stage of distri- 
bution the offal is discarded. 

Volume of products. In the United States and Canada the 
production and consumption of poultry products are very nearly 
equal, because each country has agricultural areas capable of 
supplying an enormous population with poultry and eggs. Pro- 
duction in such districts responds quickly to the increasing 
demands of other sections, but not in such volume as to create 
large surpluses for export. The present annual production of 
the United States is variously estimated at from $600,000,000 
to $1,000,000,000. This wide difference exists because the 
census is only a partial one. In Canada no general census of 
poultry products has ever been taken. 

The poultry statistics for the United States as collected de- 
cennially by the Bureau of the Census may be found complete 
in the full report of agricultural statistics. Those for the differ- 
ent states may be obtained in separate bulletins. Some of the 
states and provinces collect poultry statistics through state and 
provincial departments and furnish the reports to all persons 
desiring them. Persons living in communities which ship poultry 
products can usually learn from the local shippers the approxi- 
mate amounts and the value of the produce that they handle. 
At the more important receiving points statistics of receipts are 
kept by such organizations as the Produce Exchange, Board of 
Trade, or Chamber of Commerce, and the results published in 
their annual reports. From such sources it is possible for pupils 
to get information as to the status and importance of the poultry 
trade in the communities in which they live. 



CHAPTER XXI 

EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 

Conditions in the fancy trade. The trade in fancy poultry 
and pigeons and in cage birds is on a very different basis from 
the trade in market products. With the arrangements for col- 
lecting poultry products and for holding them when that is de- 
sirable, it seldom happens that market products cannot be sold 
at any time when the producer wants to dispose of them. The 
fancy trade is quite closely limited to certain short seasons. In 
this trade prices depend as much upon the reputation of the seller 
as upon the quality of his stock. Very high prices are obtained 
only by those who have made a big reputation by winning at 
important shows, and have advertised their winnings exten- 
sively. Buyers of fancy stock prefer to deal directly with 
producers, and the greater part of the business is mail-order 
business. It is almost impossible to force the sale of this class 
of stock except by selling it for the table at market prices. The 
producer can only advertise and wait for customers, and what is 
not sold at fancy prices must be sold at market prices. 

Exhibitions. Competitive exhibitions hold a very important 
place in the development and distribution of improved stocks of 
animals. In old times such exhibitions were informal gatherings 
of the persons in a locality who were interested in the improve- 
ment of a particular breed or variety. Our knowledge of these 
early gatherings of breeders of domestic birds is very limited 
and is mostly traditional. From what is known it appears that 
they were usually held in the evenings at public houses, and 
that each person taking part carried with him to the place 
of meeting one or more of his best birds ; that these were 

291 



292 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



compared and their qualities discussed by the company, and that 
at the close each participant carried his exhibit home. 

As the interest in breeding for fancy points extended, such 
gatherings became larger and assumed a more formal character, 
and rules were adopted for comparing, or judging, the birds ; 
but it was not until about the middle of the nineteenth century 




Fig. 233. View of a section of a large poultry show in Mechanics Building, 
Boston, Massachusetts 



that the modern system of public exhibitions of poultry, pigeons, 
cage birds, and pet stock was inaugurated. The first exhibitions 
of this kind were held at the agricultural fairs. Very soon after 
these began to attract attention, special exhibitions, limited to 
this class of stock and held in suitable buildings in the winter, 
became frequent. Now large shows are held annually in nearly 
every large city and in hundreds of smaller cities, and every 
agricultural fair has its poultry department. For the sake of 



EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 293 

brevity, shows at which poultry is the principal feature are called 
simply poultry shows, although they often include other kinds of 
domestic birds and all kinds of small domestic animals. 

A large poultry show, with a great variety of exhibits of birds 
and of the appliances used in aviculture, affords an excellent 
opportunity to see good specimens of many kinds. Those who 
have such an opportunity ought to make the most of it. But 
the novice who can attend only small shows will find that, while 
he does not see as many different kinds of birds there and may 
not see many really fine specimens, the small show affords the be- 
ginner a much better opportunity to learn something about the dif- 
ferences that affect quality and value in fancy poultry and pigeons. 

At the large show there is so much to see, and the differ- 
ences between the winning specimens in any class are usually 
so slight, that only those who are familiar with many varieties 
can make a critical examination of the exhibits. At the smaller 
shows the varieties are not as numerous, the competing classes 
are smaller, and the differences between the specimens which 
win prizes are often plainly apparent, even to a novice, if he 
has a clue to the method of making the awards. Those who 
visit large shows can use their time to best advantage if they 
make as careful a study as they can of the few things in which 
they take the most interest, and take just a casual look at every- 
thing else. In the four or five days that it is open to the public 
it is not possible for any one to make a thorough, discriminat- 
ing inspection of all that there is to be seen at a large poultry 
show, and an experienced visitor to such shows never tries to do 
so. At many of the small shows even a novice, by studying the 
exhibits systematically, may get a very good idea of all the classes 
and may add something to his accurate knowledge of a number 
of different kinds of birds. 

Rudiments of judging. While even an ordinary poultry show 
contains a great deal that is of interest to those who know how to 
get at it, the visitor who does not know how to study the exhibits 



294 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

and simply takes a cursory look at all of them, tires of the regular 
classes at a show in a very short time. After the awards have 
been made, the ribbons or cards on the coops will show the win- 
ning birds and their relative positions, but unless one knows 
something of the methods and rules of judging and compares the 
birds with some care, he is likely to get the impression that mak- 
ing comparisons between show birds requires a keener critical 
faculty than he possesses, and to conclude that it is quite use- 
less for him to attempt to discover why the birds have been 
ranked in the order in which the judge has placed them. 

Judging live stock is not a matter of simple comparisons of 
weights and dimensions. The personal opinions of the judge 
necessarily affect his decisions, and as the opinions of men 
differ, their judgments will vary. A judge is often in doubt as 
to which of two or more birds is (all things considered) the 
better specimen, but he must make his decision on the birds as 
they appear to him at the time, and that decision must stand 
for that competition. No one, no matter -how well he may know 
the requirements of the standard for a variety and the methods 
of applying it, can discover by a study of a class of birds all of 
the judge's reasons for his decisions ; but any one who will keep 
in mind and try to apply a few simple, general rules can look 
over a variety that he has never seen before, and of which he 
may not know the name, and (unless the judge has been very 
erratic in his decisions) can see why most of the awards in 
a small class of varied quality have been made. 

These rules are : 

1. The character or characters that most conspicuously dis- 
tinguish a type are given most consideration in judging. 

2. Color of plumage is given more consideration than shape, 
unless some shape character is unusually striking. 

3. Quality in color of plumage consists in evenness and 
purity of shade in solid-colored specimens, and in sound colors 
and distinctness of the pattern in party-colored specimens. 



EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 295 

4. The shape of extraordinary superficial shape characters, 
such as crests, very large combs, heavy foot-feathering, etc., is 
usually given as much consideration as color. 

The first rule really includes all the others, and although this 
is not usually admitted by the exponents of current methods 
of judging live stock, in practice it is the fundamental rule in 
judging. One reason why people who have a little knowledge 
of standards for well-bred poultry, and of the methods of apply- 
ing them, are almost always puzzled by the awards at poultry 
shows is because they try to analyze them in accordance with the 
commonly accepted theory of judging by points, which assigns 
definite numerical values to certain characters. This theory 
assumes that the judge, taking these values as a basis, com- 
putes the values of faults with mathematical accuracy. This 
is not possible where the computation is based upon an opinion. 

To illustrate the application of the rules given, let us apply 
them to some well-known varieties, taking first the Barred 
Plymouth Rock. 

The conspicuous distinguishing character of this variety is the 
barred color pattern ; therefore color of plumage has most con- 
sideration in judging it. The pattern is the same all over the bird ; 
therefore every feather should be barred. The pattern must be 
sharply defined ; therefore the colors must be clean-cut and the 
bars straight and of nearly equal width on each feather, with the 
width of bars on feathers of different sizes proportionate to 
the width of the feather. These requirements seem very sim- 
ple when stated, but a close examination of ordinary exhibition 
Barred Plymouth Rocks will show very few specimens that 
closely approach perfection according to the rules. 

Now take the White Wyandotte. The most conspicuous 
character of any white bird is its whiteness. In judging this 
variety, therefore, whiteness will have more consideration than 
any other quality. White Wyandottes are distinguished from 
White Plymouth Rocks by the shape of the comb ; therefore 



296 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

the shape of the comb will be given more attention by the 
judge than if there were other distinguishing features. 

Silver- Laced Wyandottes are conspicuous for their color pat- 
tern ; therefore the most important thing is that this shall be 
well defined and uniform, the white centers clean and white and 
the black edges intensely black. Uniformity in such markings 
is very difficult to produce. A bird may be well marked in one 
section and very poorly marked in another. 

In Partridge Cochins the most conspicuous character is ex- 
treme feather development ; the next is color of plumage, which 
differs in male and female. Feather development and the shape 
which it produces will therefore have about equal consideration 
with color. In color the male is black on the breast and body, 
with a red neck and back, the feathers of the hackle and the 
saddle having black stripes in the center ; therefore, in the male, 
quality in color consists in blackness in the black sections, a 
uniform red in the red sections, and clear and sharp striping 
wherever it appears. The Partridge Cochin female has plumage 
of brown penciled with a darker brown ; therefore to the eye of 
a poultry fancier the beauty of her color consists in well-defined 
penciling and a harmonious contrast in the two shades of color. 

A White-Crested Black Polish fowl is most conspicuous for 
its large white crest ; therefore the crest is the most important 
feature to be considered in judging this variety. But color is also 
very important, for if the white feathers of the crest are partly 
mixed with black, or the black of the body is dull, the effect 
is not pleasing. 

The Fantail Pigeon is most conspicuous for its fan-shaped 
tail ; therefore this is the most important thing in judging. The 
tail must not only be large and well shaped, but must be carried 
in an attractive manner. It must not be too large, because then 
the bird cannot carry it in a good position. In addition to carry- 
ing the tail in a good position, the bird must pose so that the 
whole attitude adds to the attractiveness of the principal feature. 



EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 29/ 



Similarly with the 
Pouter Pigeon, the 
globular crop, which 
is its distinctive char- 
acter, must be large 
and well formed, and 
in addition the general 
carriage must be such 
as to show the pout- 
ing trait to the best 
advantage. 

The same rules of 
color which apply to 
fowls apply also to 
pigeons. The color 
patterns of pigeons 
are much more nu- 
merous, but as a rule 
the principal required 
features are at once 
obvious to any one 
who keeps in mind 
the general rules that 
have been given. 

After the more con- 
spicuous characters, 
many minor characters 
are given particular 
consideration. In theo- 
retical statements of 
methods of judging, 
these minor characters 
are often treated as of 
equal importance with 




298 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 




Fig. 235. Saddle Fantail 
Pigeon 1 



the conspicuous characters, but in ordinary judging practice 

they are not often so treated, except in the case of disqualify- 
ing faults, to be noted presently. The less conspicuous char- 
acters, including shape of body (in 
regard to which the average fancier 
and judge is somewhat careless, not 
discriminating between closely related 
types), become important in making 
decisions between specimens which 
appear to be equal in the more con- 
spicuous characters. Because of this 
there is a tendency to exaggerate some 
one minor character whenever a high 
degree of uniformity in characters that 

are of primary importance in judging is reached. 

Disqualifications. The practice of judging the relative merits 

of exhibition birds principally by a few striking characters tends 

to make breeders and exhibitors neglect many little things which 

affect the appearance of a bird. This is especially the case with 

exhibitors competing under 

judges who are partial to some 

conspicuous character. To 

prevent this, and to place the 

heaviest possible penalty upon 

serious faults that are easily 

overlooked, certain faults are 

made disqualifications ; that is, 

a bird having any one of these 

faults is absolutely debarred 

from competition, no matter how good it may be in other respects. 
There is general agreement as to the wisdom and justice of 

disqualifying for deformities or for mutilations of the feathers 




Fig. 236. White Fantail Pigeons 



1 Reproduced, by permission, from " Domesticated Animals and Plants," by 
E. Davenport. 



EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 299 

to conceal a fault. In regard to disqualifying for trivial faults, 
fanciers differ in opinion. Many hold that this has been carried 
to a ridiculous extreme in some cases. Thus, in all clean-legged 
fowls it is required that the shanks and toes shall be free from 
small feathers, stubs, or down. Most fanciers agree that con- 
spicuous feathers and stubs should disqualify, but many consider 
that to disqualify for a minute bit of down, which can hardly 
be seen without the aid of a magnifying glass, is going too far. 

Unless the judge has overlooked a disqualification (and this 
rarely happens), none will be found on a bird that has been 
awarded a prize. If in any class there is a bird which is not 
given a place, though apparently superior to any of the prize win- 
ners in the characters most distinctive of its variety, that bird 
usually has some disqualification. The list of disqualifications is 
too long to be given here. It is not the same throughout for all 
varieties. Exhibitors and breeders do not attempt to keep track 
of the disqualifications (which are changed occasionally) for any 
but the varieties in which they are especially interested. 

Methods of judging. When exhibitions of domestic birds 
were first held, the awards were usually made by committees of 
two or three judges. The object in doing this was to insure 
impartiality and to make connivance between a judge and an 
exhibitor more difficult. It was found that this plan did not 
work well. Often the opinions of one man dominated, or, if the 
man could not have his way, the committee wrangled and took 
too long to make its decisions. So by degrees the committee 
plan was abandoned and a single judge made the awards in 
accordance with standards and rules agreed upon by associations 
of exhibitors and judges. 

At first all judging was done by comparison of the specimens 
of each class entered in competition. That is the method still 
in general use in Europe and widely used in America. But to 
many exhibitors comparison judging seemed unsatisfactory, be- 
cause by it only the winning birds were indicated, and exhibitors 



300 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

whose birds did not win usually wanted to know how their birds 
compared with the winners. To meet this demand score-card 
judging was adopted. In this method of judging, the characters 
to be considered are divided into sections, which are named in 
order on a card having corresponding blank spaces in which to 
mark numerical cuts for faults in each section. The score cards 
used at poultry shows where judging is done by that method do 
not indicate to which of several possible faults a cut applies, ex- 
cept that, having one column for shape cuts and another for color 
cuts, they show in which class the fault appears. In many educa- 
tional and private score cards the names of the common faults 
in each section are printed in the space allotted that section, in 
order that the fault may be accurately checked. The use of cards 
with so much detail is not practical in ordinary competition. 

The score of a bird judged by the score-card method is the 
difference between ioo (taken as the symbol of the perfect bird 
of any variety) and the sum of all the cuts made for faults. The 
common cuts for faults are | for a slight fault, i for a pro- 
nounced fault, and I J- for a very bad fault. Occasionally larger cuts 
are made for serious faults. Theoretically the score is supposed to 
represent accurately the relation of a specimen to a perfect speci- 
men, but really scores only represent in a general way the judges' 
opinions of the relative values of the birds in a class, and in- 
dicate to the exhibitor where the judge found faults in his bird. 

Exhibition quality and value. The winning of a prize at an 
important show gives a breeder of fancy birds a standing that 
he could not otherwise acquire. The greater part of the sales of 
poultry of this class are made by mail to persons who do not 
know the breeder personally and do not see his stock until after 
purchasing. No matter how good his stock may be, those who 
want to buy will not pay much attention to his claims for its 
superior quality until they have such confirmation of those 
claims as is given by the winning of prizes in competition. 
Then the prices which a breeder can get for his stock will be 



EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 301 

regulated largely by the prices obtained by other successful 
exhibitors at shows of the same class. 

There is a wide range of prices from those that can be 
secured for stock of the quality that wins at the greatest shows, 
to those that can be obtained for the kind that wins at ordinary 
small shows. High prices are paid for noted winners and for 
other stock of the same breeding, as much for the advertising 
value of ownership of fine stock as for the actual value of the 
birds to breed from or to exhibit again. A breeder who wins at 
some very small show may find it hard to sell either stock or 
eggs for hatching except at a slight advance over market prices. 
Some breeders who have made remarkable records in winning 
at the best shows can get very high prices for their prize-winning 
stock and for the eggs from it. Fowls sometimes sell as high as 
$500 each, and eggs at $2 each. Pigeons also bring very high 
prices at times, although fewer people are interested in them 
and sales are not so numerous. The ordinary prices for good 
stock are quite reasonable, considering how few really fine speci- 
mens are produced. The average novice finds that fowls at from 
$10 to $25 a trio and pigeons at from $5 to $15 a pair have all 
the quality that he can appreciate. 

In the early days of modern fancy poultry culture those 
breeders who had great reputations could get relatively high 
prices for almost any bird that would pass as a breeding speci- 
men of its kind. This is still true of breeders who successfully 
introduce new varieties or who suddenly attain prominence with 
stock of their own breeding. But as the stock of a leading 
breeder becomes widely distributed among smaller breeders, the 
competition of his customers reduces his sales, and especially 
the sales of the cheaper grades of stock. The most troublesome 
problem that the best breeders have is to get rid of the lower 
grades of their stock at a fair profit. 

Why good breeders have much low-priced stock. Novices in 
the breeding of fine stock commonly suppose that all pure-bred 



302 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

stock of any variety is of uniform quality. When they learn that, 
as a rule, only a small part of the young birds hatched from good 
stock is considered of superior quality, they often conclude that 
the ideas and the standards of fanciers must be wrong. Even 
professional and scientific men who become interested in fancy 
poultry and pigeons often take this view and, after considering 
the question carefully from their standpoint, try to explain to fan- 
ciers how, by changing a standard, they might secure a much 
larger proportion of specimens approximately perfect, according 
to the standard used. In the case of varieties in which the finest 
specimens of the different sexes are secured from different mat- 
ings, many novices waste a great deal of time trying to con- 
vince old fanciers that their standards and methods are illogical 
and unnatural. 

To those who do not understand the philosophy of the interest 
in breeding to highly specialized types the arguments for stand- 
ards that are adjusted to common results and are easy to attain 
appear to be unanswerable. Upon the fancier who does under- 
stand this philosophy they make no impression at all. The 
breeding and exhibiting of fancy stock of any kind is primarily 
a game. The rules of the game are in a measure arbitrary, like 
the rules in baseball or football or any other game. At the same 
time they must be framed in the interests of the development of 
the game as a sport and also as a spectacle. They must be rea- 
sonable and must be suited to players of all degrees of skill. 

Standards and rules for judging fancy stock develop just as 
the rules of athletic games develop. A generation ago such 
games as baseball and football were comparatively simple games 
in which boys and men might take very creditable parts without 
devoting a great deal of attention to practice. These games still 
afford recreation to many who use them for that purpose only, 
but they have also been developed so that players of exceptional 
skill play competition games for the interest of a public which 
studies the fine points of these games and compares the abilities 



EXHIBITIONS AND THE FANCY TRADE 303 

of the players. People who take an interest in and patronize 
professional or high-class amateur ball games do so because in 
them skillful and well-trained players do difficult things. It is 
the same in the breeding of fancy live stock to a high standard 
of excellence. When a breed or a variety is first made, the inter- 
est of the breeders centers in a few characters, precisely as the 
interest of a novice in any line centers in a few prominent fea- 
tures. As breeders grow in experience and in skill, and as the 
characters to which they first give special attention become fixed, 
they demand better quality in these and also turn their attention 
to the development of other characters. The more difficult a 
combination of characters is to produce, the greater interest the 
fancier takes in trying to produce it. When a standard calls for 
a high degree of excellence in many characters, the proportion 
of specimens of high excellence, as measured by that standard, 
will almost always be small. It is because this is the case that 
the rare specimens are considered so valuable. 

Fancy and utility types in the same variety. The great 
majority of American breeders of fancy poultry seek to secure a 
high degree of practical value in combination with fancy quality 
in their stock. There are some fanciers who breed only for fancy 
points, and some market poultry growers who pay no attention 
at all to them, but as a rule those who give market poultry 
special attention want well-bred stock of good ordinary quality, 
and those who keep poultry for pleasure want the flock kept 
for this purpose to supply at least their own tables with eggs 
and meat. The breeder who wishes to combine fancy and utility 
properties in any kind of live stock must breed only from speci- 
mens that are meritorious in both directions, selecting much 
more carefully than when breeding for one class of properties. 



CHAPTER XXII 

OCCUPATIONS RELATED TO AVICULTURE 

The value of a knowledge of domestic birds is not limited to 
the use which may be made of it in keeping them for profit or 
for pleasure. Any occupation in which a great many people are 
interested affords opportunities to combine the knowledge relating 
to it with special knowledge or skill in other lines, to the advan- 
tage of those who are able to do so. Just as the large market or 
fancy poultry business may develop from a small flock kept to 
supply the owner's table or to give him a little recreation, many 
special occupations grow out of particular interests of avicul- 
turists. Some of these have been mentioned incidentally in 
preceding chapters. In this chapter the principal occupations 
associated with aviculture will be discussed both in their rela- 
tion to that subject and with respect to their possible interest for 
those who plan to devote themselves to lines of work which 
would qualify them for special service in aviculture. 

Judging fancy poultry and pigeons. There is the same dif- 
ference between selecting one's own birds according to quality 
and judging the birds of others in competition that there is 
between performing well in a friendly game and performing 
well in a competition where the stakes are important and feeling 
runs high. Many fanciers who are good breeders and also good 
judges under other conditions make poor judges in competitions. 
In judging at shows decisions must be made quickly, there is 
little opportunity to rectify mistakes, and if a judge makes 
serious blunders he is severely criticized. A person who de- 
liberates a long time before coming to a decision, and who is 
very sensitive to criticisms of his errors, even though he knows 

3°4 



OCCUPATIONS RELATED TO AVICULTURE 305 

that some errors are sure to be made by every one and that un- 
prejudiced exhibitors make allowance for this, will not make 
a successful judge of poultry and pigeons. Judges as a class 
are not the men who know the most about standard-bred birds 
or who are the most skillful in breeding them, although some 
of the best breeders are among the best judges. Almost all 
fanciers get opportunities to act as judges. If their work is sat- 
isfactory, the demand for their services increases until in time 
their income from this source may be large enough to make 
it worth while to adjust their other affairs to their engagements 
at poultry shows. 

Journalism. There were a few books on poultry and pigeons 
written in the first half of the last century, and a larger number 
immediately following the " hen-fever" period. These and the 
articles on poultry and pigeons in agricultural papers constituted 
the literature of the subject until about 1870. Then there ap- 
peared a number of poultry journals, most of which gave some 
attention to other domestic birds. The demand for special jour- 
nals arose because many people who were interested in poultry 
were living in cities and were not interested in general agri- 
culture ; they wanted more information about poultry matters 
than the agricultural papers could give. Advertisers of poultry 
and pigeons, and of goods bought by aviculturists, also wished 
advertising mediums through which they could reach buyers at 
less cost than they could through the agricultural papers. The 
rates for advertising are based upon circulation, and if only a 
small class of the readers of a publication are buyers of a 
particular class of goods advertised in it, the cost of reaching 
them may be too great. Whenever any interest becomes of 
sufficient importance, journals especially devoted to it are issued, 
for the convenience of buyers and sellers as well as for the in- 
formation they contain. Until about 1890 nearly all poultry 
journals were small publications which the owners looked after 
in their spare time. Then they began to increase in number and 



306 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

importance, and before long there were a great many that gave 
regular employment to editors, advertising solicitors, and sub- 
scription solicitors, who were employed for their knowledge of 
poultry and their acquaintance with poultrymen as well as for 
special qualifications for their respective departments. 

Art. The illustrating of poultry journals and books, and of the 
catalogues of fanciers and other advertisers in poultry literature, 
gives employment to a constantly increasing number of artists. 
In order to successfully portray birds for critical fanciers, an artist 
must be something of a fancier. It is not enough that he should 
draw or paint them as he sees them ; he must know how to pose 
birds of different kinds, types, and breeds so that his pictures 
will show the proper characteristic poses and show the most 
important characters to their best advantage. Since the half-tone 
process of making illustrations was perfected, the greatest demand 
is for photographic work, but unless an artist is able to work over 
and complete a defective photograph with brush or pencil, he can- 
not make this line of work profitable. Most birds are difficult sub- 
jects to photograph, and only a small proportion of the photographs 
that are taken can be used without retouching. A photographer 
may work for an hour to get a bird posed to suit him, and then, 
just as he presses the bulb, the bird, by a slight movement of 
the head or foot, may spoil one feature in a photograph that is 
otherwise all that could be desired. An artist who can draw birds 
can remedy such defects ; the ordinary commercial artist cannot. 

Invention. The most important invention used in aviculture 
is the artificial incubator. Methods of hatching eggs by arti- 
ficial heat were developed independently by the Egyptians and 
by the Chinese thousands of years ago, and are still used in 
Egypt and China. The arrangements used in these old hatch- 
eries are crude, and the success of the operation depends upon 
exceptional skill and judgment on the part of the operator. 
Operating incubators is a business continued in the same families 
for centuries. Each hatchery does the hatching for a community. 



OCCUPATIONS RELATED TO AVICULTURE 307 

In the early part of the eighteenth century a French scientist 
named Reaumur, who was much interested in poultry, began to 
make experiments in artificial hatching and brooding. In 1750 
he published a very full account of these and other experiments 
which he had made with poultry. His idea was to devise a modi- 
fication of the Egyptian practice of hatching in ovens, suited to 
the conditions of a more advanced civilization. He succeeded in 
hatching eggs by utilizing the waste heat from a baker's oven, 
and also hatched eggs in hotbeds heated with decomposing 
manure. He applied the hotbed principle to the brooding of 
chickens with some success. But the methods that he devised 
were not adapted to general use. 

After Reaumur many others experimented with artificial hatch- 
ing. Some of the ideas were obviously more impractical than 
those of Reaumur, but the experimenters tried them out and 
sometimes succeeded in hatching chickens by very peculiar 
and laborious processes. One man in England, in the latter 
part of the eighteenth century, hatched some chickens from eggs 
placed in cotton batting in a sieve adjusted over a charcoal fire 
in a small fireplace. The fire was watched constantly for three 
weeks, either by himself or by some member of his family. He 
demonstrated that eggs could be hatched in this way, but not 
that it could be done profitably. Practical incubators were not 
produced until about forty years ago. 

Although incubators and brooders have been brought to a 
relatively high state of efficiency, they are far from perfect. In- 
ventors of the best machines are still studying ways to improve 
them. In this and many other fields there are opportunities for 
inventive genius. 

Education and investigation. Lectures on poultry have been 
given occasionally at agricultural institutes in the United States 
since about i860. After 1890 the demand for such lectures, 
and the number given, constantly increased, and ability to speak 
in public became valuable to one versed in aviculture. Then the 



308 OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 

study of poultry culture was introduced into agricultural colleges, 
and a new field was opened to poultry keepers with a faculty for 
teaching, and for trained teachers with special knowledge of 
domestic birds. The teaching of poultry culture impressed upon 
those engaged in it the need of scientific investigation of many 
problems not clearly understood even by the best-informed 
poultrymen. 

The agricultural experiment stations had been giving little at- 
tention to some of these problems except in a desultory way and 
without important results. As the demands for more accurate 
information on many topics increased, many of the experiment 
stations began to make important poultry investigations. For 
this work men specially trained in various sciences were required. 
As a rule the men that were secured for such work knew very 
little about poultry when they began their investigations, but it 
was much easier for them to acquire a knowledge of poultry 
sufficient for their needs than for persons who had poultry knowl- 
edge and no scientific training to qualify for positions as inves-. 
tigators. The field of investigation of matters relating to poultry 
is constantly being extended. Proficiency in physics, chemistry, 
biology, surgery, and medicine, and in higher mathematics as 
far as it relates to the problems of any of the sciences mentioned, 
will always be in demand for scientific work in aviculture. In 
the future the most efficient teachers and investigators will be 
those whose early familiarity with domestic birds has given a 
greater insight into the subject than is usually possessed by those 
who take up the study of the subject comparatively late in life. 

Manufacturing and commerce. It is very much easier to build 
up a large business in the manufacture or the sale of articles 
used by poultry and pigeon keepers than to build up a large 
business as a breeder of domestic birds of any kind. As has 
been stated in connection with nearly every kind of bird men- 
tioned in this book, a poultry keeper's operations are limited by 
the difficulty of keeping large numbers of birds continuously on 



OCCUPATIONS RELATED TO AVICULTURE 309 

the same land, and also by the exacting nature of the work of 
caring for them under such conditions. In manufacturing and 
commercial operations there are no such limitations. The pos- 
sibilities of development depend upon the extent of the demand 
for the articles that are manufactured or sold, and only a small 
proportion of the employees need to be persons versed in avi- 
culture. But in competition with other manufacturers or mer- 
chants those who understand domestic birds and know all the 
different phases of interest in them have a very great advantage 
over those who do not. 

Legislation and litigation. The rise of new industries creates 
new problems for legislators, executive departments, courts, and 
lawyers. An industry in which many people are interested 
eventually reaches a stage where it is profitable for lawyers to 
specialize to some extent in laws affecting it, and politic for legis- 
lators and administrators to do what is in their power to protect 
the interests of those engaged in it, and to advance those interests 
for the benefit of the whole community. A special field is open- 
ing for lawyers familiar with aviculture and with its relations to 
other matters, just as within a few years the field has opened 
to teachers and investigators. 

The possible uses of a knowledge of aviculture to young 
people who are naturally inclined toward intellectual professions, 
art, invention, manufacturing, or trading have not been given 
for the sake of urging students to direct their course especially 
toward work connected with aviculture. The object is only to 
show those who take an interest in the subject that it is worth 
while to cultivate that interest for other reasons, as well as for the 
profit or the pleasure that may be immediately derived from it. 



INDEX 



Abbotsbury, old swannery at, 229 

Africa, guinea fowl in, 202 ; ostrich 
breeding in, 235 

African goose, 164 ; illustrated, 164 

Age, of earth, 25; of fowls, 92; of geese, 
169; of swans, 223 ; of ostriches, 232 

Agricultural experiment stations, in- 
terest of, in aviculture, 308 

Agricultural fairs, poultry exhibitions 
at, 292 

Aigret of peafowl, 208 

Albumen, formation of, in egg, 17 

Alfalfa, 140, 236 

American Wild Goose, 165; illus- 
trated, 166 

American Wild Pigeon, 241 

Amherst Pheasant, illustrated, 214 

Ancona, 64 

Andalusian, Blue, 49, 64 

Animal kingdom, place of birds in, 2 

Animals, having bird characters, 1 ; 
predacious, prevent use of colony 
system, 107 

Annual production of poultry and 
eggs in United States, 290 

Antwerp Homer Pigeon, 246 

Art, relation of, to poultry culture, 
306 

Aseel, 50 

Ashes, use of, in poultry house, 75 

Asia, peafowl in, 208 ; pheasants in, 
212 

Asiatic races of fowls, 49 

Australia, Black Swan discovered in, 
223 

Austria, goose growing in, 167 

Aylesbury Duck, 129; as a market 
duck in America, 147 

Babylonians, knowledge of fowls 

among. 36 
Bache, importation of pheasants by, 

212 
Bakubas, ducks among the, 127 
Bantams, 66; illustrated, 37, 66, 67, 

68, 69, 70 



Barbs of feather, 9 

Barnum, P. T., promoter of an early 

poultry show, 53 
Barrel of dressed poultry iced for 

shipment, illustrated, 284 
Barring, quality in, 295 
Bat, a flying animal, 1 
Bath, for ducks, 139; for pigeons, 

261 ; for canaries, 273 
Beard, of fowls, 10; of turkeys, 180 
Bedding for ducks, 138 
Beef scrap, 116, 140 
Belgian Canary, 27 1 ; illustrated, 271 
Bill, of duck, 124; of goose, 158 
Bird, use of term, 2 
Birdseed, composition of, 273 
Black Swan, 223 
Blackhead in turkeys, 198 
Blood, feeding, to fowls, 90 
Boat, swimming bird model for, 3, 124 
Boston, first poultry show held in, 52 
Boston Common, feeding pigeons on, 

illustrated, 245 
Bourbon Red Turkey, 187; illustrated, 

188 
Brahma Bantams, 71 ; illustrated, 70 
Brahmaputras, 53 
Brahmas, Light, illustrated, 22, 36, 

^■j ; Dark, illustrated, 51 ; used for 

roasters, 1 16 
Bran, 78, 89 
Branding swans, 225 
Bread, feeding, to swans, 228 
Breast in birds, relation of develop- 
ment of, to flight, 12 
Breed, defined, 28 
Bremen Goose, 161 
Broiler growing, 112 
Bronze Turkey, 183; illustrated, 186 
Broody hen, actions of, 93 
Brown eggs, preference for, in Boston, 

289 
Brunswick Goose, t6i 
Bucks County Fowl, 56 
Buff Turkey, 187 
Buoyancy of aquatic birds, 15 



3" 



3 I2 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Burnham, author of " The History of 

the Hen Fever," 53 
Buttermilk, 98 

Cabbage for poultry, 89, 117, 140 
Cackling of fowls, 33 
Cages for canaries, 272 
Call Ducks, 133, 134; illustrated, 135 
Cambridgeshire Bronze Turkey, 182 
Canada Goose, 165; illustrated, 166 
Canary Islands, canaries in, 269 
Candling eggs, 21, 283; illustrated, 

282 
Capon, 1 16 

Carneaux squabs, illustrated, 266 
Carrier Pigeon, 243 
Cart, used on poultry farm, illustrated, 

102 
Cats and canaries, 272 
Cayuga Duck, 131 
Cement floor in poultry house, 74 
Central America, turkey in, 181 
Ceylon, peafowl in, 209 
Chalazae, function of, 17 
Charcoal fire, incubating eggs over, 307 
Chicken, exclusion of, 22 ; technical 

use of term, 35 
Chickweed for canaries, 273 
Children as poultry keepers, 39, 42 
China, introduction of poultry into, 

36; Pekin Duck brought from, 131 ; 

artificial incubation in, 305 
China Geese, 162 ; illustrated, 162, 163 
Chinese races of fow T ls, 51 
Cities, relation of growth of, to poultry 

culture, 278 
Classes of domestic birds, 6 
Clover, 140 

Clucking of hen, 33, 93 
Cochin, Buff, illustrated, 50 ; Black, 

used in making Plymouth Rock, 57 ; 

Partridge, judging, 296 
Cochin Bantams, 69 ; illustrated, 69 
Cock, use of term, 34 
Cockfighting, prohibition of, 5 
Cockerel, 35 
Cold storage, 112, 285 
Colony houses, illustrated, 101, 103, 

104, 106 
Colony system of poultry keeping, 101 
Color, in feathers, 10; of wild ances- 
tor of domestic fowl, 27 ; of wild 

ancestor of domestic pigeon, 247 ; 

consideration of, in judging, 294 
Comb, of fowl, 33, 1 17 ; of guinea, 200 



Commerce, relations of, to avicul- 
ture, 308 

Common Pheasant, 214 

Comparison judging, 299 

Confinement, effect of, on egg produc- 
tion, 72, 74 

Cooling dressed poultry, 285 ; illus- 
trated, 287 

Coop, made of dry-goods box, illus- 
trated, 75 ; for hens and chicks, 97 ; 
illustrated, 97, 98, 106; for turkey 
hen and brood, illustrated, 197 ; for 
pheasants, illustrated, 218, 219 

Corn, cracked, 78, 98, 103, 116, 140, 
175; feeding, on cob, 89; soaking 
whole, 89 ; for sitting hens, 95 ; 
stale, 220 

Corn meal for chicks, 78, 89, 97 

Cornfield, poultry in, 106; illustrated, 
122 

Cracker crumbs for chicks, 98 

Creameries as egg-collecting depots, 
280 

Creamy tint in white feathers, cause 
of, 11 

Crest, occurrence of, in fowls, 10; 
consideration of, in judging, 295 

Crested White Duck, 133 

Crop, function of, 16 ; size of, in duck, 
140; peculiarity of, in ostrich, 232 

Croppers, 250 

Crossbred, defined, 29 

Crow of cock, 33 

Crower, colloquial use of term, 35 

Cuckoo, laying habit of, 1 ; mating 
habits of, 3 ; fowls, 43 

Curl in tail of drake, 127 

Cuttle bone for canaries, 273 

Cygnet, 224 

Darknecked Pheasant, 2T4 

Decoration, feathers used for, 32 

Decorative plumage, to 

Deer's hair for canaries' nests, 274 

Diet of birds, 15 

Disqualifications for exhibitions, 298 

Domestication, adaptability of species 

to, 7 
Dominique, 43, 55, 57 ; illustrated, 43 
Dorking, 44, 55; illustrated, 44 
Dove, origin and use of term, 240 
Dovecots, great number of, in England 

in medieval times, 252 
Down, defined, 8; replaced by feathers, 

11 ; sometimes a disqualification, 299 



INDEX 



313 



Dragoon pigeon, 251 ; illustrated, 241 
Drawing poultry, 289 
Dressed poultry, 283 ; illustrated, 285 
Dressed squabs, illustrated, 267 
Driving turkeys to market, illustrated, 

199, 280, 281 
Droppings board, 75 
Duck farms, illustrated, 146, 147, 149, 

150 
Dumb ducks, 127 
Dust bath for fowls, 76 
Dutch artists, paintings of poultry by, 

48 
Dutch races of fowls, 47 
Dwarf foAvls, 64 

Eared Pheasants, 216 

Earth, relation of age of, to evolution, 
26 

East India Duck, 133 

Egg, description of, 16 

Eggs, uses of, 4 ; number of, set under 
hen, 95; boiled for chicks, 98; quality 
of ducks' and hens', compared, 124 

Egypt, fowls in ancient, 36 ; goose sa- 
cred in ancient, 166; pigeons in, 244; 
artificial incubation in, 305 

Egyptian Goose, 165 

Egyptian hieroglyphics, duck in, 127 ; 
goose in, 157 

Embryo, growth of, 16, 21 

Emden Goose, 158; illustrated, 158 

England, colony poultry houses in, 
107 

English Pheasant, 215 

English races of fowls, 46 

Evolution, theory of, 25 

Exhibition Game Bantams, 70; illus- 
trated, 37 

Exhibitions of poultry, illustrated, 
292, 297 

Face of fowl, appearance of, 8 
Fancier, philosophy of the, 302 
Fanciers, influence of, on develop- 
ment of types, 37 
Fancy poultry plant, illustrated, 121 
Fantail Pigeon, 249, 296 ; illustrated, 

298 
Farm stock of poultry, illustrated, 84 
Fattening chickens in crates, illus- 
trated, 279 
Feather beds, 31 

Feathers, uses of, 4, 31 ; structure of, 
8; resistance of, to water, 15 



Feeding young ducks on duck farm. 

illustrated, 153 
Fence for ducks, 139; for turkeys, 

192, 197 
Feral race, distinguished from wild, 35 
Fertile egg, appearance of, when 

tested, 96 
Feudal system, regulation under, of 

use of birds in hunting, 5 
Flatheaded Canary, illustrated, 271 
Flaxseed for canaries, 272 
Flies, ducks catching, 144 
Flight of birds, 2 
Floors in poultry houses, 73 
Fly for pigeons, 257 
Flying machine, bird a model for, 2 
Food, of birds, 15 ; of fowls, 78 
Foot feathering, 27 ! consideration of, 

in judging, 295 
Fowl, use of term, 2 
Fowls and pheasants in same yard, 

illustrated, 220 
French races of fowls, 48 
Frillback Pigeons, illustrated, 252 
Frizzled fowls, 65 

Callus Bankiva, 35 ; cock, illustrated, 

42 
Game, resemblance of Brown Pit to 

wild progenitor, 27 
Game Bantam, 37 

Gander, 160; fighting, in Russia, 162 
Garden, keeping chickens in, 83 ; 

keeping ducks in, 145 
Germ of egg, 16 
German artists, paintings of poultry 

by old, 48 
German races of fowls, 47 
Germany, goose growing in, 167 
Gizzard, function of, 16; peculiarity 

of, in ostrich, 232 
Gobbler, use of term, 180 
Golden Pheasant, 215 
Goldfinch, American, erroneously 

called a canary, 270 
Goose-fattening farm, illustrated, 175 
Goslings, growth of, illustrated, 172; 

grazing, illustrated, 174 
Gough, John B., a noted poultry fan- 
cier, 53 
Grade, defined, 29 
Grass, in poultry yards, 72; growing 

goslings on, 172 
Grasshoppers, turkeys as destroyers 

of, 194 



314 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Gray Lag Goose, 160 

Green ducks, 144 

Grit, use of, for poultry, 16 

Guinea, color pattern in feathers of, 

10; White, illustrated, 202, 204 
Gunpowder, use of pigeon manure in 

manufacture of, 253 

Hair, relation of, to feathers, 8 

Hamburg, Silver-Spangled, illustrated, 
46 

Hamburg chicks, early growth of 
feathers of, 1 1 

Handling ducks, 125 

Handling pigeons, 262 

Harz Mountain Canaries, 271 

Hatching season, natural, 93 

Hawk-colored fowls, 43 

Hawks and guineas, 204 

Hempseed for canaries, 274 

Hen Pigeons, illustrated, 251 

Hen-tailed Bantams, 70 

Heron, flight of, 12 

Holland Turkey, White, 182; illus- 
trated, 184, 185 

Homer Pigeons, 243; Flying, illus- 
trated, 241, 242, 246 ; squab-breed- 
ing, illustrated, 247 ; squabs of, 
illustrated, 266 

Houdan male, illustrated, 48 

House, for fowls, 73, 85, 101, 108; il- 
lustrated, 74, 76, 77, 85-89, 118; 
with open front protected by hood, 
illustrated, 89; for growing chickens, 
illustrated, 99, 116; old stone, on 
Rhode Island farm, illustrated, 100 ; 
moving a colony to, 104 ; interior of 
a compartment in, illustrated, no; 
for ducks, 138; illustrated, 150, 151 ; 
for geese, 169; for turkeys, 190; 
illustrated, 191 ; for pheasants, 219 

HOuse and fly for pigeons, illustrated, 
255' 259, 262-265 

Houses at agricultural colleges and 
experiment stations, illustrated, 79, 
88, 90, 91, 109 

Hungarian Pheasant, 214 

Hybrid, defined, 25 

Ice supply on large duck farms, 154 
Incubation, appearance of eggs at 
various stages of, illustrated, 20', 
21 ; period of, 96, 142, 171, 196, 

205, 2TO, 220, 228, 236, 267, 275 

Incubator cellar, illustrated, 115 



Incubators, 306; introduction of, on 
Long Island duck farms, 148 ; 
mammoth, 152 
India, antiquity of fowl in, 36 ; pea- 
fowl in, 209 
Indian Runner Duck, 132, 141; illus- 
trated, 132, 133 
Insects, birds as destroyers of, 5 
Instinct, relation of, to incubation, 19 ; 

homing, in pigeons, 243 
Intelligence of birds, 3 
Intensive poultry farms, no 
Inven tion, relation of, to aviculture, 306 
Italian races of fowls, 46 

Jacobin Pigeon, illustrated, 243 
Japan, antiquity of fowl in, 36 
Japanese Bantams, 68 ; illustrated, 68 
Japanese Long-Tailed Fowl, illus- 
trated, 52 
Japanese races of fowls, 51 
Java, Black, 58 
Java, peafowl in, 209 
Jersey Blue, 56 
Johnnycake for chicks, 98 
Journalism, 305 
Judging, 293, 304 

Kafirs, their method of pulling stumps 

of ostrich plumes, 238 
Kentucky, turkeys in, 189 
Killing poultry, 284 

Land plaster, use of, in poultry houses, 

75 
Langshan, Black, illustrated, 40, 41 
Language, capacity of birds for, 2 
Laugher Pigeon, 239 
Lavender Guinea, 203 
Lawn clippings for poultry, 76 
Laying capacity of birds, 18, 127 
Laying habits of birds, 14 1 , 1 70, 1 95, 266 
Leaves for litter in poultry houses, 76 
Leg of bird, contraction of, in perching, 

Leghorn, 46; illustrated, 10, 11, 45, 
81 ; early growth of feathers of, 1 1 
Legislation relating to aviculture, 309 
Lettuce for canaries, 273 
Lice, how fowls rid themselves of, 77 ; 
" to destroy, on sitting hens, 96 
Lime in eggshells, 16 
Lincolnshire Buff, 63 
Litter in poultry houses, 76, 138 
Lizard Canary, 271 



INDEX 



*5 



Long Island duck farms, 146 

Losses due to bad handling of poultry 

produce, 282 
Lyell, James C, on origin of domestic 

pigeon, 240 

Malay fowl, 50 

Mallard Duck, 126; illustrated, 127 
Maltese lien Pigeon, 252 
Manchester Coppy, 271 
Manchurian Pheasant, illustrated, 215 
Mandarin Duck, 134 
Mangel-wurzels, 89 
Manure, poultry, use of, 75 ; pigeon, 
used in manufacture of gunpowder, 

253 

Mash, time of feeding, 78 ; method of 

making, 89; use of, 89, 98, 140; 

cooking, 103 
Meat meal, 140 
Mexico, turkey in, 181 
Middlemen, 275 

Milk, feeding, tochicks, 98; pigeon, 267 
Minorcas, illustrated, 48, 49 
Molting, 1 1 

Monaul, illustrated, 216 
Mondaine Pigeon, Swiss, illustrated, 

242 
Mongolian Pheasant, 215 ; illustrated, 

213 
Mongrel Geese, illustrated, 167 
Monks, probable originators of many 

types of fancy fowls, 48 
Mule, defined, 25 
Muscovy Duck, 125, 129; illustrated, 

128 
Mute Swan, 222 

Narragansett Turkey, 183 

Native fowls in America, 43 

Neck, handling ducks by, 125 

Nest building, 18 

Nest eggs, 94 

Nests, fowls', 94; ducks', 138; geese's, 

171; turkeys', 195.; swans', 22S; 

pigeons', 259, 264; canaries', 274 
Netherlands, Indian Runner Duck in, 

132 
Netted Guinea, 203 
New Jersey, pheasant introduced into, 

213 
Norfolk Turkey, 182 
Norwich Canary, illustrated, 270 
Nubia, ownership of fowls in, 39 
Nun Pigeons, illustrated, 252 



Oatmeal for chicks, 98 

Oats, 78 ; feeding, in sheaf, 89 

Offal of slaughtered animals, feeding, 

to poultry, 90 
Oil in feathers, 1 1 

Oregon, pheasant introduced into, 213 
Ornamental birds, number of, in 

domestication limited, 7 
Ornamental ducks, 156 
Ornamental geese, 164 
Ornithorhynchus, resemblance of, to 

bird, 1 
Orpington Ducks, Blue, illustrated, 

134 
Orpington fowl, 63 ; illustrated, 64, 

65 
Ostrich, illustrated, 231, 233, 235, 

?37 
Outdoor quarters for fowls, 72 
Ovary, 17 
Oviduct, 17 

Ovules, numbers of, in hens, 18 
Owl Pigeon, illustrated, 249 
Oyster shell for fowls, 81 

Packing houses, relation of, to distri- 
bution of poultry produce, 280 

Pairing of birds, 3, 168, 178, 205, 210, 
219, 236, 262, 274 

Partridge, peculiarity of flight of, 13 

Passenger Pigeon, 241 

Peacock, tail of, 10; Indian, illustrated, 
207 

Pearl Guinea, 203 

Peas for pigeon food, 265 

Pekin Duck, 131, 147; illustrated, 131, 
140, 141 

Penguin, locomotion of, 1 

Perches for pigeons, 259 

Persia, pigeon in ancient. 245 

Petaluma, egg farming at, 119; illus- 
trated, 1 1 7 

Philadelphia chickens, 114 

Phcenix cockerel, illustrated, 52 

Pied Guinea, 203 

Pigment in feathers, 1 1 

Pigmy Pouters, 251 

Plantain for canaries, 273 

Plucking live geese, 167 

Plymouth Rock, Barred, 57, 295 ; illus- 
trated, 54, 55,80; White. 58; illus- 
trated, 56 ; Buff, 59, 62 ; illustrated, 
57; Columbian, 61 ; illustrated, 62 ; 
Silver-Penciled, 6r ; illustrated, 58 

Point Judith Bronze Turkey, 183 



i6 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



Polish, 47 ; White, 34 ; Silver- 
Spangled, illustrated, 39; White- 
Crested Black, 47 

Pomeranian Goose, 161 

Poult, 180 

Pouter Pigeon, 250, 297; illustrated, 
250 

Preserved eggs, 286 

Prices, how determined, 278 ; of fancy 
poultry and pigeons, 301 

Profits, computation of, 72 

Pullet, 35 

Pure-bred, denned, 30 

Quail, laying of, in captivity, 18 
Quantity of food, 80, 88 

Range, advantages of, 85 

Rapeseed for canaries, 273 

Reaumur, experiments of, in incuba- 
tion, 307 

Reptile, resemblance of duckling to, 
142 

Retailing poultry produce, 275, 288 

Rhode Island, goose growing in, 173 

Rhode Island Red, 61, 100; illus- 
trated, 32 

Ringneck Pheasant, illustrated, 212 

Roaster growing, 113; illustrated, 1 14 

Rock Pigeon, 241 

Roller Canaries, 271 

Roller Pigeons, 248 

Romans, distribution of domestic 
fowl by, 36,46; peacock a favorite 
dish among, 209 

Rooster, use of term, 34 

Rose-Comb Black Bantam, illustrated, 
69 

Rotten egg, appearance of, when 
candled, 96 

Rouen Duck, 130, 141 ; illustrated, 
130 

Rudiments of judging poultry, 293 

Ruff, occurrence of, in pigeons, 10 

Rumpless Fowl, 65 

Running board for pigeons, 260 

Runt Pigeon, 251 ; illustrated, 241, 
250 

Russia, geese in, 167 

Rye, 78, 116, 154 

Saddleback Goose, 161 
St. Andreasberg Roller, 271 
Salt for pigeons, 265 
Sawdust in poultry house, 75 



Scalding poultry, 284 

Scale on beak of young birds, 22 

Scales, relation of, to feathers, 8 

Scoring, 300 •* ";;f - 

Scotland, wild pigeon in, 240 ; '" 

Scratching of birds, use Of, 14. 

Sebastopol Goose, 165 ; illustrated, 
165 

Sebright Bantam, 70 ; illustrated, 70 

Shanghai, 53 

Shavings for litter in poultry house, 
76 

Shell of egg, formation of, 17 

Silky fowl, 65 

Silver Pheasant, 215 

Sitting hen, illustrated, 19; food for, 95 

Slate Turkey, 187 

Slip, an imperfect capon, 117 

Snow, effect of, on poultry, 81, 92, 107, 
125, 269 

Social relations of birds, 3 

South America, guinea in, 202 

Space per bird in poultry house, 86 

Spain, turkey in, 181 

Spanish Goose, 162 

Spanish, White-Faced Black, illus- 
trated, 38 

Spanish races of fowls, 49 

Sparrow, laying capacity of, 18 

Species, predatory relation of, 6 ; de- 
fined, 24; origin of, 25 

Sprouted oats, 78 

Spurs, 32, 117 

Squab, 240; illustrated, 266, 267 

Squeaker. See Squab 

Standard-bred, defined, 30 

Standards for judging exhibition poul- 
try, 299 

Strain, denned, 29 

Stub feather, 9 

Subvariety, denned, 29 

Summer quarters for poultry, illus- 
trated, 123 

Sunlight, benefits of, 73 

Swan and nest, illustrated, 224 

Swannery, an English, illustrated, 
228 

Swans feeding on the water, illustrated, 
227 

Swedish Duck, Blue, illustrated, 133 

Swimming, of birds, economic value 
of, 14; effect of , on growth of ducks, 

151 
Swiss Mondaine Pigeon, illustrated, 

242 



INDEX 



317 



Table fowl, Dorking best type of, 47 
Table scraps, feeding to fowls, 77 
Tail of bird, its use in flight, 14 
Temperature for incubation, 21 
Tennessee, turkeys in, 189 
Testing eggs to determine fertility, 21, 

96, 142 
Thoroughbred, defined, 30 
Tippler Pigeon, 247 
Tom-turkey, 1S0 
Toulouse Goose, 161 ; illustrated, 159, 

160 
Train of peacock, 207 
Tricolor Canary, illustrated, 270 
Triganica Pigeon, 242 
Trumpeter Pigeon, 239; illustrated, 

249 
Tula Goose, 162 
Tumbler Pigeon, 247 ; illustrated, 244, 

258 
Turbit Pigeon, 251 
Turkey, common, illustrated, 181 
Turkey hen with brood, illustrated, 

198 
Turkey nest, illustrated, 196 
Turkey roost, illustrated, 194 
Turnips for poultry, 90 

Uses of birds in domestication, 4 
Utility types of poultry, 303 

Varieties, 27 
Variety, defined, 28 
Ventilation, 261 
Versicolor Pheasant, 215 
Virginia, turkeys in, 189 
Voices of birds, 3, 33, 126, 159, 1S0, 
200, 207, 223, 232, 238, 269 



Waste food consumed by street 
pigeons, 256 

Water, 81, 98, 141 ; imperviousness of 
feathers to, 15; warming, for fowls, 
81; propensity of young ducks for, 
145 ; constant supply of, for pigeons, 
illustrated, 261 

Wattles, of fowl, ^3\ of turkey, 179; 
of guinea, 200; of pheasant, 211 

Web of feather, 9 

Webster, Daniel, exhibitor at first 
poultry show in America, 53 

West Indies, guinea in, 202 

Wheat, 78, 98, 141 

Whistling Swan, 222 

White eggs, preference for, 289 

White of egg, formation of, 17 

Wild birds, place of, in civilization, 5 

Wild geese, growing, in captivity, 178 

Wings, movement of, in flight, 12 

Women as poultry keepers, 39, 42, 122 

Wood Duck, 134 

Wyandotte, 59 ; Silver- Laced, illus- 
trated, 59 ; White, 60 ; illustrated, 
60, 82 ; Partridge, illustrated, 61 ; 
Silver-Penciled, illustrated, 61 ; 
Buff, origin of, 62 ; Columbian, il- 
lustrated, 62 

Vard of small poultry fancier, illus- 
trated, 120 

Yards, for fowls, yi,; for ducks, 138; 
for geese, 169; for turkeys, 190; 
for pheasants, 219 

Yellow-legged fowls, American prefer- 
ence for, 55 

Yolk of egg, 17 

Yorkshire Canary, illustrated, 270 



OCT 18 1913 



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